Assistant to a Goddess
by ShadowdLynx
Summary: Lenne Aoyama was a normal girl, sort of. Then the gods come into her life and it's all screwed up now. But just how are they involved with our favorite juunishi? Future crossover. Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket. Just my OC's.
1. It Begins

My first semi-serious fic! This came very easily for me to write, and I enjoy writing it. Lenne is so much fun. Okay, no one's probably reading this part anyway...CHEESE SHOULD BE LAUNCHED FROM BAZOOKAS TO DESROY SCHOOLS AND EVIL STATE TESTS! Did that catch your attention? On with the ficcy!

Disclaimer: Yeah, that's right! I own Fruits Basket! notices strange glances Grrr, you caught me. I only own one DVD and volumes 1-8. Happy? jerks...

ASSISTANTTOAGODDESASSISTANTTOAGODDESS

"RYOKO!" My little sister gave me my usual morning wake-up. We discovered alarm clocks were a bad idea after I smashed my fifth alarm clock into pieces. I always was strong for a girl. Beat up the toughest guys in school, and proud of it.

But that's still no reason I have to have COLD water thrown on me, every morning. If we could find an alarm clock that wasn't possesed by an evil radio man bent on making my life hell, we wouldn't have this problem. The guy at the electronics store gave me a weird look when I asked about one. He must have been new.

It's not that I mind weird looks. I get them all the time, along with wolf whistles and cat calls. I'll leave you to guess what happened to them.

I have black hair down to my lower back, and what I think is a nicely proportioned body. I'm not as curvey as other girls my age, which is 15 in case you didn't know. Which I guess you wouldn't unless you were a psyshic or a stalker. I have two long bangs that come to my shoulder, I usually keep them in braids so their not in my face. I know your probably thinking, that doesn't sound like anything to get weird looks for, well SCREW YOU!

It's my eyes. One is a light violet, and the other is a light grey. The reason I don't give any clarification which eye is which color, they enjoy changing from time to time. Sometimes when I'm in a conversation, they feel like changing, which really creeps people out. I love it.

Getting dressed quickly, I wolfed down a bowl of cereal, made sure Ryoko ate, then locked the apartment and left. School. I'm skipping for joy. Can't you see? You can't, can you. Unless your a stalker.

I always walked my little sister to school. She got teased by kids from school with nothing better to do because their lives are a bloody boring mess. She is such an adorable little kid. Twelve years old, black hair to her shoulders kept in a half-ponytail, same eyes with the same tendencies. She looks like a mini version of me, but much cuter. And the assholes at her school didn't appreciate her. She's smart enough to be in eighth grade, but she said she'd rather be with kids her own age, and she didn't want to look like anymore of a freak. Poor kid needs a self-esteem boost.

We were suddenly surrounded by thugs from my school. I think they enjoy having there face pounded into the concrete every so often, usually around the time a brain cell is starting to form, only to have it knocked out of them again. I'm happy to oblige.

"Well, good morning, senpai. Lovely to see you. Need something? Like a pedicure, a book reference, your face slammed into the ground? I'm ever so helpful."

"Cut the chatter, bitch. You know why we're here."

"Don't use language like that in front of little kids! Didn't your mother teach you any better?" Using the stupid act makes them mad. Then they think something along the lines of 'Last time was a fluke, we'll get her this time. She's such an idiot, she can't be a good fighter.' Tsk, tsk.

"We're here to play a game. So stay still like a good girl, or you might get hurt worse."

"I enjoy games. Let's play my favorite." Dropping the smile, I moved towards one of the guys and used an uppercut straight in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him. "Tag, your it."

They all rushed at me, hoping to overpower me, but I jumped over one of them, punching him in the back of his head. Turning as I landed, I faced them ready to fight. Dodge, kick, flip the kid into someone else, punch, kick, punch, and lookie there! All done!

Looking around for Ryoko, I got a chill up my spine. Fifteen feet away, she was being held by her hair with a knife to her throat. The guy who held her wasn't from my school. Wait, wait, wait! He had horns. That freaked me out then, not so much now.

"M'lord has been looking for you, wench. Come nice and easy, and this girlie won't suffer too much when she dies." The dude had greasy hair, yellow teeth, and horns. Like hell I'm going anywhere with him. But...

"Why would you even want to kill my sister? She hasn't done anything!"

"Her stench annoys me." What the hell? She took a shower last night! I think this dude has some serious issues.

"You will leave her alone, you will leave, and you will tell this 'lord' of yours to go screw himself. 'Cause I'm not going anywhere."

His grin got wider. "Fiesty, aren't we? Well then, I guess you need a little persuasion." He suddenly pushed her in front of an on-coming car.

"NO!" I shouted, even though I knew it was useless. Reaching out would do nothing. '_I'm sorry I failed, Ryoko. I broke my promise..._' Then a blue light formed in my hand and knocked into the car, rolling it over and away several feet. The greasy guy just stared wide eyed before stepping back into a swirling purple thing. "It begins." He stated before fading. '_What begins?_' I thought before my vision went black.

ASSISTANTTOAGODDESASSISTANTTOAGODDESS

I awoke to the smell of flowers. '_Ryoko sprayed me with perfume in my sleep again._' I was going to get up and take a shower when what happened flooded my mind. '_He said "It begins". Then he brought up that freaky thing about his lord or whatever. Is it possible he's in a yaio relationship...? That's so freaky, messed-up, whatever other adjectives, I so gotta stop thinking about it._'

Opening my eyes slowly, I was greeted by two big pairs of blue eyes hovering over me. "KYAAAAHHHH!" I was suddenly ten feet away from the owner of the eyes, my heart pounding. I usually have pretty good instincts if someone is that close to me.

The owner of the eyes was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties or so, but her eyes made her look child-like. She had tanned skin and long chestnut hair. I felt sort of plain next to her, but pushed those feelings away. It was much more important to find out why I was in the middle of a clearing, when I was walking with my sister through the park on our way to school on a seemingly normal day. I should of stayed on bed. Who cares if I was wet and cold.

"Excuse me, hi. I'm sorry for screaming and, um, where am I?" I'm polite when I want to be. I figured it would be a bad idea to freak her out in case she ran away or pulled out a weapon or something. Or that... big silver stag over there charges because it picked up negative vibes.

She giggled. "Currently, your body is on Earth, Japan, Niigata, in Sakura Park. Your spirit, however, is here on Olympus in Artemis' private garden." The nicest girl's are always the ones on drugs, aren't they?

"You are on an acid trip, aren't you. One, the only possible way for my spirit and body to be seperated is if I was dead. Then I would be headed towards the Spirit World. Or Hell. Or whatever. Two, Mount Olympus is for the gods. No mortal is allowed to go there."

"You mean, come here." Said a voice behind me. "Sadi, didn't I tell you to explain things a little better? Really, she's probably just more confused now." The woman looked like a model. She had green hair pulled up in a high ponytail and a white headband with blue and green designs on it. She was wearing a really short dress, indecent really. Then a picture from my Greek Mythology class popped up. '_She's wearing a tunic. A deerskin tunic. She must be a really big fan of Artemis to dress like her. She even carries a longbow like her._' The bow was as tall as the woman and looked heavy, but she carried it with the ease of someone who had practiced a long time. '_Like thousands of years... Stop it! Your probably stressed out by whatever happened who knows how long ago. I'm dreaming or hallucinating. Yeah, that's probably some transvestite and I conked my head so now he looks like a woman._'

"And who are you?" She smiled.

"I am Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt. You are in my private garden on Olympus." She looked at me like she half suspected I would fall on my knees and worship her. Nutjob. The only nutjob I'd ever bow down to would be myself. "Yeah, okay. Your on an acid trip, too. Look, don't know where I am but I want answers and I want them now!" She just smiled again, like she knew that would be my reaction. That was so pissing me off.

"Come with me and I will show you I'm not lying." While she made it seem like a request, there was an undertone of a command that she expected obeyed. Even if I don't like to be commanded about, I obeyed anyway. She led me to a pond and muttered something. The pond surface shimmered, then was replaced by a reflection of my body. Lying in the park with Ryoko shaking me. So I said the only intelligble thing I could decipher from my thoughts. "What the hell?"

"Right now, I have seperated your soul from your body so you could come here. I would of brought your body, but you had passed out, and due to my...punishment...I'm not allowed on Earth for a little while."

"But if my soul is seperate from my body, doesn't that mean I'm dead! I can't be dead! I need to take care of Ryoko, I'm the only family she's got!"

"Relax. There is a strand of your spirit that currently links your soul to your body, so it will only seem you are in a coma. I'll return you when I'm done explaining. Please, sit." That was probably all I could do in my current state. "You are able to be on Olympus because you are a spirit, and that is all gods are here. Only when they go to Earth can they maintain a solid body."

"Or else Zeus wouldn't of been able to be such a player." She briefly smiled at my choice of words.

"I'll admit, Father is somewhat active on Earth. But that hasn't been for a long time. There were already too many demi-gods and such, so the gods were forbidden to mate with humans. But enough of that, I should tell you why you are here. Things on Earth are not perfect, as you may very well see. But in some instances, there are things that must be fixed. Emotional problems, demons breaking through the barrier, humans making deals with demons, that sort of thing."

"Demons exist?"

"Yes. They can look human either because they have enough spirit energy, or there are some who use illusions. But those with a powerful sixth sense or high spirit energy can see past weak illusions."

"So that guy I saw in the park, he was a demon? That horn thing freaked me out." Artemis looked at me sharply.

"What did this demon look like," she demanded.

"Greasy blond hair, yellowing teeth, pockmarks, long and pointy nose, horns on his head, looked like he was around his thirties or so. From the look on your face, you either know him or you're purposefully trying to make your face as screwed up as possible."

"I had to get a mouthy one," she muttered. If she thought I was mouthy now... "I know him alright. His name is Gemini. My uncle, Hades, used to deal with his master, Lord Aki. I hope you never have to meet him."

"I'll remember that."

"I'm serious. If you ever see him again, tell me immediatly."

"I'm going to be doing this often? Gee, I must be the luckiest girl in Japan. How about tea next week?" She smiled at my sarcasm.

"I won't call you here again unless it's extremely urgent, because you will be reporting to me. You're my new assistant." My jaw dropped open. "Every thousand years or so, Hera makes me get an assistant. Something about trying to make me more of a people person, or needing to do it. I usually don't listen, I'm thinking about my next hunt instead. It's your job to take care of any special assignments I give you. Think of it as a way to socialize. You don't do that very much, you know."

"Yeah, but if you need to be more of a people person, shouldn't you be doing all the emotional problem cases?"

"I handle the ones in different countries. I can't have my assistant running all over the world, can I? Your internal clock would soon hinder your abilities."

"Yes, but still... Ryoko needs me around. I'm her only family. And I do have my jobs I need to go to, for rent money and food and stuff. How can I juggle another job, that might come up at any time!"

"Don't worry about it. But I must tell you, I need to transfer you to Tokyo. Something big is going to happen, and I need you there when the turning point arises."

"The turning point?"

"The event that will change things in the four realms. Whatever that is, you must be there to make sure Aki will not use this to shape things to his design." I was quiet as I absorbed this. Up until this morning, the biggest things I had to worry about were Ryoko, school, and work. Now it was my job to save the world? The four realms?

"What are the four realms?"

"Ningenkai, where humans reside. Makai, the demons realm. Reikai, where spirits go after there body has perished, also the location of Hades domain. And Olympus, the realm of the ancient gods. There are other gods, though, who do not live here. You will learn of them eventually, but now I need to start your training." I did not like the sound of this.

"Training? This isn't going to be some evil boot camp, is it?" She just smiled. "I have to take care of Ryoko, you know! I can't just go around, doing whatever!"

"Sadi." The girl stepped forward. "Go get Ryoko Aoyama and Lenne Aoyama's body, and bring them to my training grounds." She turned to me, a dismissal for Sadi. "You are a good street fighter, but we're going to refine and fine-tune that. We need to work on your spiritual awareness, raising the level of it, and you need work on controlling it so it doesn't go out of control with your emotions. Your training will start once I put you back in your body. Normally, we'd have to give you a life energy transfer to reconnect your soul and body. But since your soul is still linked to your physical form, it's a simple matter. Don't worry." The scenery started melting together and swirling over to the right. As it unmelted, I could make out a small temple.

"Don't _ever_ do that again. I feel like I'm going to be sick!" I knelt on the ground, taking deep breaths to calm my somersaulting stomach.

"It was the quickest way to get her," she said with an innocent face.

"Innocent as a murderer pointing a loaded gun at someone they despise!"

"That's silly! I have a longbow, I hate guns, and I don't despise you."

"I can fix that if you want." Artemis suddenly started laughing. "I knew it, you're on crack."

"I'm sorry!" She gasped, trying to control her outburst. "I just haven't been able to talk to anyone but my brother and Hermes like this. We're going to get along just fine. Remind me to introduce you to them."

"Okay, remember that you need to introduce them to me." Sadi appeared holding my body and Ryoko. As soon as my sister regained her balance, she ran up to me.

"Nee-chan! I was so scared when you collapsed like that! Then the hospital workers came and said you were in a coma, and I was afraid you'd never wake up!" She was close to tears. I wished I could of hugged her, but my arms would probably pass through her, making her feel worse that I couldn't touch her.

"It's okay, Ryoko. Just let all your fears and worries out with your tears." It was something I always said to her when she was scared. She said crying helped her feel better and more clearheaded. "Remember that promise I made you when Mom died? That I'd always take care of you, no matter what. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let something simple like being seperated from my body stop me from keeping it." She grinned. "But things are going to get more complicated after this, so you have to be ready, okay?"

"If it's something you have to do, you have to do it." I love having her for a sister. She can be more mature than me at times.

"Well Artemis, lets get started. The sooner I get my body back, the sooner I can start taking care of Ryoko and start these missions."

"Alright, go kneel next to your body. The link between your body and you needs to be reconnected. Concentrate until you can see it the line. It should be glowing with your spirit energy." I looked until I finally noticed a silvery blue strand coming from 'my' mouth, which still freaked me out, and went to my mouth.

"That's strange, I never noticed it except for a little tingle."

"That's okay, you still need training to sense it easily. So, we need a mouth connection."

"Which consists of what, pray tell."

"Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

"WHAT THE HELL! I have to _kiss_ myself! Do you realize how wrong that is on so many levels?" Her mouth was quivering, obviously wanting to laugh at me. "I think you're enjoying torturing me like this. That's so cold."

"I'm sorry, but that's how to reconnect your soul. Just a small kiss on the lips, perhaps only five seconds, tops."

"_Only_, you say. _Only _five seconds, tops. I swear, once I have my body, I am going to kick your ass." Blocking all the objections my mind came up with about how wrong this was, I leaned over and gave 'me' a light kiss. When I opened my eyes, I was staring up at a pair of gray and purple eyes. "Kyaaaaahhhhhhh!" Ryoko blinked. "Don't scare me like that ever again. I thought something went wrong for a second."

"Sorry, nee-chan." She spoke with an innocent tone, but her grin gave her away. Ooh, I so wanted to get her back for that. But... I would've done the exact same thing if the situation was reversed.

Artemis grinned openly. "It's time to train! Aren't you so lucky, only a select few train with me. Don't worry, be happy!"

"Did you know you're acting more and more childish?"

"Only because you're here, my little assistant. Come, the training awaits!"

"Joy. I am so happy. Who wouldn't love the oppurtunity to train with someone who forces you to kiss yourself? I'm skipping like a little schoolgirl."

"When I'm done with you, you should be glad if you can skip even a week after."

4 months later ----

"Haru!" Momiji yelled, drawing the white-haired boys attention. "Come on, come on! I heard there's a new student!"

"Doesn't Tohru-san usually greet new students?"

"Ja, but Tohru doesn't know about the new student, and she's in our class, so we should greet her!"

"Class, settle down, settle down. We have a new student joining us in our expedition to learn more, reach higher, and better ourselves!" Higurashi-sensei was always eager to teach. She looked to the door. "She should be here any second." There was a rumbling noise from the hallways, then the door was thrown open and a figure came to an abrupt halt with its back to Higurashi-sensei. She was attractive, with long black hair, and a slightly muscular figure. They couldn't really tell from their distance, but one eye looked to be a lighter color than the other.

"Sweet, I'm not late! I got here before the teacher."

"Think again, Aoyama-san." The girl meeped as she looked back at the teacher. "I will forgive it just this once because it's your first day. But if you don't stop this habit of being late, I might have to report this to your 'big sister'." The girl paled.

"But it wasn't my fault! I'm sure I could give you a perfectly believable excuse I haven't used before. It shall be perfectly believable. Shouldn't it be perfect?" Higurashi-sensei shook her head.

"Just introduce yourself."

"Righto, O Mighty Sensei Higurashi. We all bow down to your superiority. My name is Aoyama Lenne. I come bringing ill tidings, the screams of the doomed, and the will of making you all suffer. I hope we can be friends!" She told them with a polite bow. The class sweatdropped. She was certainly...interesting.

"Sit down next to Sohma Momiji-kun." The hyper-active rabbit was bouncing in his chair and waving his arms. Lenne grinned and skipped down the aisle. "And Lenne-san...please don't break another one of my windows this time."

"I'm innocent! I would never even think of doing such a horrendous crime. Your accusations wound me!" She had a mock-hurt look on her face.

"Of all the people, why did _she_ heve to be in my class." Higurashi-sensei muttered. The class looked to the innocent looking Lenne, and knew this year would certainly be interesting.

ASSISTANTTOAGODDESASSISTANTTOAGODDESS

AN: So, like it? Hate it? WTF, man? I want reviews, dammit!

I don't use Japanese terms that much, because I haven't learned that much. If I misuse something, please tell me. Praise to whoever guesses where Higurashi is from.

And if you didn't notice, I'm not good at fight scenes. I'll try to get better, but I can't promise any masterpieces.

And about the all caps divider thing? All my extra spaces and dashes have been dissapering. I'm trying to solve this mystery, but this was all I could come up with.


	2. new friends and short skirts

We got to play with snails in science! I named mine Rupert Valentinezeno Xarcine Pigsillflaway Malinatroska Kalipmant Brigit-Sendarline Nephiscolton. He's adorabable! Then we had to do experiments and I had to put Rupert away, but we got two new snails! Rupert II and Louise are a married couple with problems. Rupert II crossdresses and Louise took a suicide dive off of my lab partners hand. I gave them a whole history.

Disclaimer : The day I own Fruits Basket is the day penguins take over the world. Since I shall not allow that to happen, I will never own it. Too bad penguins are so evil or I'd have an easy way to own Fruits Basket!

"Yuki-kun, have you seen Momiji-kun?" Tohru looked to the boy who had become like an older brother to her in just a short while. In fact, both him and Kyo were protective of her, always glaring at every guy that came near her. Most people thought she was unobservant, but she was just klutzy. She was truly grateful to the Sohma's for everything they'd done for her, including acting as brothers.

"I think he said he wanted us to meet his new friend...?"

"Yes..." Hana said, popping up in her mysterious way and scaring both Sohma boys. "I sense someone who is intune with their sixth-sense. She is sending very peculiar waves, indeed."

"Tohru-kun!" Momiji called to her as he and a girl walked to their spot under a tree. "Listen! Listen! I made a new friend today!"

"Hi! My name is Aoyama Lenne. It's nice to meet you!"

"Oh yeah, I heard about you," Uo said. "You're the one that Higurashi-sensei knows so well, the one that made that freaky introduction speech."

"That's me! Wow, my fame's already spreading. Imagine that. Whatever did I do to earn such a wonderful honor." Kyo gave her a creeped out look.

"Are you on drugs?" Her eyes got really wide.

"What! Do people really think my attitude is drug based? Oh my, now I have to go over years of personality accumulation. Dammit, I knew being me was horrible. WHY DID I HAVE TO BE BORN SO DAMN HAPPY!" She turned her back to them and drew circles in the dust, mumbling about 'damn personality faults'.

"Kyoooo, you shouldn't be so mean. That was so rude!" The little rabbit glared at him.

"Yeah!" Lenne exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "Don't be rude! Well actually, not like being all nice and stuff all the time is good, because then people think your fake because they think you're just acting. Of course, if you're mean all the time people won't like you because they say they don't like your surly attitude! Why the hell is highschool the time when you have to find the perfect balance between being perky and morose? Your reputation can be ruined FOREVER!" She suddenly turned to them with a calm expression. "Sorry. I don't believe I caught your names."

"No shit, with that mental breakdown you just had..." Kyo muttered.

Momiji smiled. "Isn't she funny?" Lenne smiled at him.

Tohru, not wanting to be impolite, bowed and introduced herself. The others followed suit, but Kyo added 'Damn psycho brat'. "Lenne-chan! You should walk with us so we can be closer friends!" Lenne blinked.

"You are a hyper little thing, aren't you." She asked Tohru. "Well, actually..." A beeping noise cut her off. As Lenne looked at her watch, she became bug-eyed. "Kuso, I'm so late! Um, I hope we can talk more later everyone. Ja ne!" She sprinted off, leaving a trail of dust which the wind quickly blew into the eyes of the students.

"Damn, you attract all the weird ones, don't you, brat."

"Lenne-chan's not very social! You shouldn't be so mean to her. How rude."

"She has very strange waves." Hanajima said. "She has been close to death. But peculiarness aside, she is a very nice girl." Yuki sweatdropped.

"She's very much like Ritsu."

"No...it's only a facade." Hana said, a small spark of emotion in her eyes. "She is lonely, antisocial, and seems to not have much skill in even being around others. Even in our small group, she seemed nervous."

"Yeah," Momiji said, looking sad. "She told me it's just her and her little sister. She seemed angry when she talked about her parents. For her, it's always been working without pause, so her little sister can be happy." _'But I do wonder about what Higurashi-sensei meant about an older sister...'_

Tohru looked like she was about to cry. She didn't think anybody should go through with that, so she came to a decision. "We can invite her out somewhere!"

Furikan Middle School----------

Ryoko looked around sadly. Her first day had not gone well. People were already talking about how quiet she was. They laughed at her when she tripped in gym class. She hated this school so much, but she didn't want to upset Onee-chan, so she decided she would keep quiet about the snickering. She didn't want Lenne coming to beat up all the other kids.

She accidently bumped into someone. "Oh, gomen, I wasn't watching where I was going," She appoligized to the girl in front of her. She had brown eyes, and a golden-brown sheen to her hair. It reminded Ryoko of the color of tiger's fur.

"That's alright. I wasn't watching, where I was going, either." Ryoko smiled at her. She seemed quiet and shy, too. Maybe they could stick together...

"My name is Aoyama Ryoko."

"Sohma Kisa. Pleased to meet you." Her eyes wandered to the Mogeta book Ryoko was holding. "Is that...Mogeta and the Neverending Stream of Villanous Foes?"

"Um, yeah. I really like Mogeta, even if some people think it's a little stupid..." Kisa smiled at her.

"I love Mogeta, too! What's your favorite episode?" Ryoko blinked in surprise, before grinning. _'Well, I guess I won't be lying when I tell Onee-chan school's great.'_

Tokyo Streets-------

"Oh man," Lenne whined, dodging pedestrians and yelling at delinquets. "My first day at work and I'm late! Why, why, why! Gr, bet Artemis planned this." She slid to a halt in front of a store with a flowery sign out front. _'Well, here I am. Uniforms straight, hair's reasonably presentable, big mouth shut.'_

As she stepped inside, she almost tripped over someone bent over a box. "Oh, gomen nasai, I wasn't looking...where..." Lenne stared at the women in front of her. She was wearing a french maid outfit._ 'Oh, I hope to Kami, Artemis, and all the other gods, goddesses and deites that is not the uniform.'_

On Olympus----

Artemis grinned down at her watching pool. "Ah, poor Lenne-chan." Artemis turned to see her twin. She glared playfully.

"I know you're hoping she'll wear the maid outfit. Dirty old pervert."

"Hey, I'm not that old. We're twins, that would make you an old hag, and we stay young eternally. As to the maid outfit...we all have our failings."

Done with the shorty ;--------

"Oh, that's all right! Ah, you must be the counter girl! Wait right here!" Lenne stared after the girl. Artemis would pay for getting her this job, she would make sure of it.

An elegant man with silver hair walked out. _'Whoa, he's gorgeous!' _He walked up, took her hand in his, and kissed it. "I am the one and only... Sohma Ayame! Feel free to get on your knees and worship me."

Lenne raised an eyebrow. "Gee, I would and everything, but I have scraped knees. But when they heal, I'm sure I'll be following you around on bended knees in servitude."

He grinned. "My, my. One with a sense of humour. This will be fun." He looked her over critically. "Hm, nice figure, cheery attitude... tell me, can you fight."

"Yes." He seemed to visibly brighten and wilt at the same time. (Poor Ayame can't hit on her without getting his ass kicked)

"Perfect. You shall be... our cash register girl!" He twirled around as he spoke. Lenne noticed he was always animated as he talked. "You will greet customers with a smile, and help them find what they truly desire!" Lenne was now seriously questioning just what kind of job did Artemis actually get her.

"Um, Sohma-san..." He cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"Please, to a pretty girl like you, it's 'kun'. Of course I wouldn't mind if you called me 'sama'."

"Riiiight. Well, Sohma-_sama_," she put emphasis on 'sama'. "I never really learned what my job would be or where it would be at. My older sister got the job for me..."

"Ah, yes! Tenshi-chan, I remember her. One of my best customers, size six waist, liked all styles and could pull them all off. She gave you a recommandation, and when I learned you were new in Tokyo and needed a job, of course I gave you one! I'm sure you'll live up to Tenshi-chan's expectations, and my own."

Lenne internally sighed. She should of known Artemis would get her a social job._ 'Tenshi must be a name she goes by here. A little obvious...' _Ayame continued speaking.

"This store, my chibi one, has a purpose in life. It's here to help fulfill the dreams and fantasies of whosoever wishes to pursue those desires!" Lenne sighed. It seemed like some sorta kinky cosplay club. But... it did sound like fun.

"Where do I start, Sohma-sama?"

"With your uniform. I guess you wouldn't want to wear your school uniform. Hm, where is it? Ah, here it is!" He held up a school uniform with a skirt shorter than the one she was wearing. She was gaping as Ayame called Mine, his assistant, to find her a uniform. She was still gaping as Mine pulled her into a room to find 'something that suited her'. She really didn't like the glint in her eye; it was one of a six-year old girl that got to play dress-up with a doll with unlimited outfits. Looking at the room she was dragged in to, and all the outfits, she couldn't help but think the analogy fit perfectly.

AN: I'm sorry for the wait! -cries- I got minor writers block. How sad is that, writers block on the second chapter? Oh well, over it now... But please send in any ideas you might have. On that note, to thank my reviewers! And just so you know, I realize I made Lenne a little like Ritsu in the beginning.

ROGMethos : My first reviewer! -hugs- Thank you so much for your praise! I'm glad you like it!

MatronRaenee : -grins- I love Momiji, the adorable little rabbit. -hands you Yuki and Momiji- Go hug wild. Huuuugz

Salma-sol is too lazy to log in : I'm sorry it's confusing! When I start writing, I automatically know who's speaking, but I forget my readers might not. Yes, Lenne is calm. She knows she can't really do anything about it, and she's the type to be more laid back about things. Artemis is also paying for their apartment and making sure they can pay the bills, so she feels this is the least she can do for her. Besides, she trained with her for three months. She had plenty of time to complain then -grins- But I'm glad you're anticipating the next chapter...this chapter... whatever


	3. Phone Calls and Confessions

Artemis swirled the water in her pond with one hand, the other keeping her head from falling. 'I thought Lenne was more intersting than this.' For the past hour and a half, she watched Lenne go on with her usual daily activities. It usually promised entertainment to the goddess, but she was so used to her random outbreaks, they no longer amused her as much. 'Huh. I thought for sure she'd say, "Hey Kyo-kun, you look like you're gonna murder Yuki-san. Geez, all he did was call you stupid", instead of, "Don't get mad, he's just stating the obvious". Guess I'm not as good as predicting her as I thought.' 

"Really, Artemis, sit as befits your station, not like some insolent whelp." Suppressing a groan, Artemis sat up and turned to face her father's wife. "Hera. In case you've forgotton yesterdays events, you happened to call me an insolent whelp. Therefore, my actions befit my personality, and I think I deserve to act like an insolent whelp."

The queen of the gods sneered at her. "As you are. I cannot stress myself to try and remember these foolish mortals time keeping system. Yesterday, tomorrow, five years from now, it all runs together."

"Yes. Someone your age might have trouble remembering every day gone by. You were, after all, born close after the beginning of the universe."

"And as I have such seniority, it would do you well to remember, you and that hot-headed brother of yours, I shall not tolerate such impertinence. You're lucky I have decided to let you remain on Olympus at all, even giving you free reign of that garden you use for all those _mortals_ you keep."

Artemis grit her teeth to keep herself from talking back. She, the blonde icy bitch, had no such control to take away her special garden, a gift from Zeus. He would not let the foul-mouthed old bat kick her off Olympus in the first place. She was a goddess, a high ranking goddess, even if Zeus sired her in the womb of another woman.

"Of course, Lady. Please forgive my transgressions. I momentarily forgot who I was talking to." A crotchy, sharp-tongued old bat with no life of her own.

"Perhaps. Or maybe you are still being uppity with me. No matter." She glanced over at the pond at the exact moment Lenne and Momiji were talking rapidly about something and making elaborate gestures. "I see you have been monitering your charge. Well well, you certainly have an ... interesting ... choice. Are you sure you chose wisely?" The younger goddesses back stiffened.

"Are you implying I cannot choose an acceptable candidate, after doing this for about 80,000 years? You have never once questioned my other choices. What about the emperor's favorite consort? You undoubtedly disapproved of her, but said nothing. And the assassin, the teacher, the nurse, the old folks home worker, the gang member? All were subjected to your insults, though you never once said they could not handle the job. The only one you've ever liked was that cynical, crotchy middle-aged woman with a suicide wish. The only person I didn't like."

"Yes. She could face the harsh reality of life with a stiff upper lip. The others were too _happy_," Hera sneered, spitting out the last word like poison.

"Oh, well forgive me for choosing someone who'd rather face life, accept it, and move on rather than someone who faces life already expecting nothing good to happen, and not even trying to make it better. Those girls have faced hardships, things they would never forget, and they tried to make it better. And you know what? They suceeded. Lenne is trying to make life better for her little sister and herself, and you have no right to judge her." She was breathing hard as she finished her tirade.

"You think so? All right then," Artemis's eyes snapped to Hera, "I'll simply have to see for myself. A little _test_ is in order, do you not agree?"

aaaaaaaaaa

"'Gure-chan! Listen listen to this wonderful new predicament!"

"Oh? Tell me, bring this news out into the open forth-with!"

"I have found someone to rival the captive princess!"

"Our perfect little flower? This is incomprehensible!"

"Oh so? She is like Tohru-kun, but instead of that darling flusterability, she has a sense of humour. Quite like our own!"

"Why this is wonderful! I must meet this little goddess, quite soon!"

"Of course! And the best part is, she calls me 'Ayame-sama'!"

"Oh, you lucky snake you! You're flocked by all those subordinates, treating you so well. At least I can console myself with our perfect flower." He gave a small sigh.

"Yes, yes, but poor 'Tori-san! No princess or goddess to console him." Ayame sighed.

"Oh, but we must find someone for him then! We can not let him be lonesome. Just all by himself on a cold winters night, no one to bring him tea, or cuddle with him under a warm blanket in front of a fire and say--" "No way in hell am I gonna wear that freaky pink little outfit!" A new voice from Ayame's side shouted.

"Aya, is something wrong?"

"Oh, just Lenne-chan violently protesting Mine's latest choice of outfit. Nothing new."

"Ah, the only downfall of the little goddess."

"Not so. This makes her even more endearing! Such a sweet little girl, hoping to get her way against Mine's violent forcing ways."

"But what about that undeniable silence?"

"..." There was silence on the other end. "Oh my."

"What? What happened?" There was a long pause. Shigure was thinking Ayame had dropped the phone until he said, "Lenne-chan chose her own uniforms. She happens to quite like them. She's actually having to choose between which one to wear today."

"And those are?"

"Cat ears, a cat tail, and a black dress versus a chinese fighting outfit with dog ears and a collar and leash combo."

"... You know, today I'm feeling restless. I think I shall come to visit you immediatly."

"Uh-uh-uh. You still have that manuscript Mit-chan wants from you. Oh well, I guess I shall admire her beauty for both of us! Ha ha ha, sayonara, 'Gure!" Shigure stared at the phone with teary eyes. "Ayame, you're really too cruel." He sighed as he hung up the phone, looking like the picture of an abandoned puppy that makes you want to go 'awww'. He turned around with his usual smile and sparkles. "I guess I'll just have to make some time for a surprise visit."

He turned to the door as Kisa walked in with a black-haired girl trailing behind her.

"Oh, Kisa-chan, hello."

"Is... nii-san here yet? Isn't today... her day... off?"

"Oh, she should be home any--"

"We're home!" Tohru's cheerful voice rang throughout the house. "Oh, Kisa-chan, hello. Who's this?" She turned towards the black-haired girl, and her eyes widened. "It's a miniature version of Lenne-chan!"

"Yes, I'm her sister. Aoyama Ryoko, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a bow. She straightened, and looked at them with a gleam in her eye. "She mentioned something about friends with the last name Sohma. I'm guessing you're them. She hasn't been... misbehaving this past week, has she?" Tohru stuttered over her reply.

"N-No! She's been wonderful, and she's a very sweet, energetic person."

"You don't have to cover for her. She's been making trouble, I can already tell." She sighed. "Lenne's like that. Undoubtedly running around, yelling random things. That's just how she is. Please excuse her, and don't think badly of her."

"Yes! Lenne-chan is a wonderful person, and it's wonderful to hang out with her." Shigure snapped his fingers.

"Ah, yes, Lenne-chan. She works in Ayame's shop, you know." Yuki paled slightly at the mention of his brother's name.

"She works in that place? She has more courage than I gave her credit for."

"What?" Ryoko asked. "Is it a bad place? Lenne just said she was working at a shop owned by someone named Sohma Ayame and she got to wear weird uniforms." Kisa nodded. "I wondered too."

Silence reigned in the house. The only sound was Kyo's angry muttering about being out of milk, probably thanks to someone not him, even though he drinks it like he needs it to live.

"Um, how about we explain when you're older?"

"Oh wait, since she said weird uniforms, it could be a cosplay shop," Ryoko said with a little nod. Kisa turned to her. "Cosplay?"

Before Ryoko could explain about the wonderful world of cosplay clubs and conventions, which would undoubtedly lead them to the right train of thought, Shigure felt the need to interrupt. "Kisa, Hiro left his Mogeta movie over here." The two girls brightened instantly.

"You have the Mogeta movie?"

"Yes! I never get tired watching it! We can watch it right now."

"Cool! Oh, but I need to call my sister. May I use your phone?"

"Uh, yes, right over here." The older teens desperatly hoped she didn't remember Lenne was at work, leading back to the question of where did she work.

"Hello, Lenne? May I stay over at a friends house to watch a movie? ... Lenne, stop exaggerating, it's not like I never get out of the house. ...Yes yes, I'll probably be home before you get off work. Oh yeah, where _do_ you work?" Everyone's back stiffened. "Kisa-chan's uncle, Shigure-san, brought up Ayame's shop. ...Okay, I'll tell him for you. Sayonara." She hung up and turned to Shigure. "My sister would like a word with you. I suggest you not be alone in the same room with her ever, unless you, and I quote, "would like to lose something very personal an extremely unpleasant way", end quote. Whatever that means. I'm sure you know, though, since you look pale."

"Heh heh, go watch you movie, children, I must go attend to my manuscript." He stood suddenly, and made a hasty departure, silently lamenting the fact his 'girl with animal ears' fantasy would be delayed.

aaaaaaaaaa

"Really Lenne-chan, threats over the phone? I'm shocked."

"Sorry, Ayame-sama, this was very important. The corruption of my impressionable little sister, believe it or not, is high up on my list of things to prevent. Imagine that"  
"Ah yes, a younger sibling. I have a younger brother of my own, but sadly, he keeps avoiding me. Oh, the tragedy of it all."

"Don't worry, Ayame-sama. He just probably hasn't seen the good in you yet. I'm sure he'll see it one day. If not, we can force him. Sounds fun, yes?"

"Wherever would I do without you?" He asked with a tragic sigh.

"In a shop with Mine-san, creating new outfits." Ayame grinned and twirled around.

"Yes yes, I feel inspiration coming on," he said in a sing-song voice. "Go on and change in the back room and then you may continue manning the front counter." He twirled off in his usual way. Lenne sighed.

"If he was anyone else, that would just look corny. How does he manage to look good doing it?" She walked to the back room pondering. Setting her uniforms on a box labeled 'Stewardess Uniforms', she pulled what looked to be a compact mirror out of her pocket.

It looked like an ordinary mirror, but if you flipped it open, you would see a black screen and two folded pieces. When those pieces unfolded, the mirror formed what looked like a miniature laptop computer, with a keyboard and touch-sensitive mouse pad. Lenne wished Artemis would just give her a folded calculator disguise, but she (Artemis) insisted if Lenne carried a calculator it would look strange. 'Oh, I can't look like a smart person, but a girly-girl. At least no one's seen it yet.' It came with a disguise button to turn the screen into a regular mirror, and could also be used as binoculars thanks to a small camera on the compact cover.

Making herself comfortable, she turned it on, gave the customary retina scan, and flipped through her mission file. The whole reason she received the mini computer was to keep in touch with Artemis, to view demon sightings, and to search the People database. The database was just a prototype currently, but could be used to view information on anyone, mortal or otherwise. The only problem was secrets. If someone had a secret, no matter how trivial it was, it wouldn't appear in that persons bio. If she found out the persons secret, it would appear in the bio and give her all the informatin needed, unless it pertained to someone elses secret. It was infuriating to learn one persons secret, and learn the tantalizing fact someone else shared that secret or something involved that person.

She brought up 'Sohma Ayame'. It supplied the usual 'age-d.o.b.-gender' information, a summary about his general self, a little about his history. 'Hello hello, whatever is this?' Of course. He had a secret. Next to the section marked secret was a little emoticon sticking its tongue out at her and going 'Guess! Guess!'. She would track down the annoying thing one day and beat the shit out of it.

'I wonder...' On a whim, she looked up everyone named Sohma. She was shocked to see over one hundred listings, all related. She chose to just look up the people she knew. 'Lessee... Haru, Yuki, Kyo, Ayame, Shigure, and Momiji. That must be why they have that sad look way at the back of their eyes, always guarded. Hm, could this have anything to do with hugging? I think it does!' She wasn't that suprised to see 'secret involves abstaining from hugging' pop up. It couldn't tell her what, oh no, but it gave her hints.

Pausing, then coming to a decision, she brought up 'Honda, Tohru'. She also had a secret. More than one, actually. 'Wait a minute, this first one. It says she doesn't know. How's that possible. True, it could involve something about her birth, or something. Dammit! This is so confusing. It's mildly linked to the second secret, and the second secret is shared with the Sohmas. Geez, a never-ending puzzle.'

"Well, I can solve this later," she decided out loud, and started changing into her uniform.

aaaaaaaaaa

Momiji skipped down the sidewalk, trying to stop the anxious feeling inside him. He was late coming home. Akito didn't notice the rabbit as much as the others, for which he felt lucky for, but it would be noticeable if he didn't show before it got too dark.

Turning around a corner, he noticed Lenne walking farther ahead. "Lenne-chan!" He called, already headed towards her. She turned, and noticeably brightened. "Momiji-chan! I haven't seen you firever!"

"I just saw you at school!"

"I know! That's firever! I never said _for_ever. Come, you must walk with me!" The two happily continued on there way.

"What are you doing out this late?"

"I was just at my papa's building. I stayed later than I should of." Lenne smiled a little wistfully.

"Must be nice, having a parent to care for you."

"Actually, Papa's busy a lot." He looked down at his hands. "He'd actually be upset if he knew I was there. I haven't actually seen him in a long time. Someone else takes care of me."

"That's sad. He actually wouldn't want to see his son?" She snorted. "All fathers must read the same handbook on how to be an uncaring bastard."

"Why are you so bitter towards your father?"

"He wasn't there for us. After my mom left us, he became listless. He wouldn't even look at us. He didn't hear us. _He didn't care what happened to us._ He'd just sit in the same spot, drinking alcohol, looking at the wall. Eventually, he just gave up to the last ray of hope of our mother ever coming back, and just died. Didn't leave us a thing except overdue rent bills. He hated us. The only thing he ever said to us before he became an empty shell was 'It's all your fault Mom left us. You or your sister should never of been born. We would of been happier that way.'"

A heavy silence covered them both. Lenne sighed, and stopped. "Thanks for listening, Momiji-chan. I needed to tell someone before it all burst out."

"That's what friends are for!" Lenne smiled.

"Friend, huh? I like the sound of that. If you think you can handle being friends with me, you're now stuck with me." They stood grinning like morons until two rollerbladers rode by, knocking Lenne aside. It seemed like she would fall on Momiji, but she caught herself at the last minute.

"Hey you punks!" She yelled, not noticing Momiji's mildly scared face. "Watch where you're going! If I didn't have super awesome reflexes, I would of landed on my friend!" She huffed angrily as they laughed. "Jerks." She turned to Momiji. "Hey, I didn't accidently scratch you or hit you with my bag, did I?"

"N-No, I'm fine."

"Good. Really, the inconsideration! I could've fell and broken my wrist, or..." Momiji half-listened to her rants as they continued walking. When she had fallen backwards, it seemed like she was conciously trying to land on him, then changed her mind at the last second. 'I could just be imagining it. She doesn't know or suspect, right? We haven't done anything suspicious.'

Behind her happy face, Lenne was beating herself up. 'I can't betray a friend.' She reminded the voice screaming at her about the wasted oppurtunity to find out the secret. 'He'll tell me when he's ready. I'll just have to keep waiting, no matter how long.'

aaaaaaaaaa

Hello people, I'm back! I got caught up in finishing my other story, then I had writers block. Don't worry, I'm over it. I hope. Well, RR people, you know what to do! Click that little purple button in the corner. Go on, it's lonely. It hasn't been clicked in a long time. Be a nice person and satisfy its desires.

Matron Raenee: -shakes head- Nuh-uh, Ayame-sama's mine! -huggles him tightly- Where else to you think I find my inspiration for how they talk? Besides my messed up little head.

meganegreer24: I'm glad you like it! -happy anime tears- I feel so appreciated.

ROGMethos: Thank you for your compliments! You've been so supportive since the beginning. All two chapters of it. Was the phone conversation good enough to satisfy your need thus far? It promises things to come, yes yes it does. -grins mischieviously-


	4. explanations and revelations

Yuki sat in front of his books, looking at them with a confused sort of expression. This, of course, would drive his fanclub nuts. The prince was _never_ to be confused. 

He was reading a note that appeared in his textbook somehow when his back was turned. At first, he thought it was from one of his stalkers, but then noticed it to be black paper, and not drenched in foul smelling perfume.

_'Yuki-san_

_Come meet us at the park tomorrow after school. We must discuss something. Do not bring Tohru-kun._

_Hanajima Saki'_

Yuki sweatdropped. To the point, as always. He sighed and shook his head. This probably had something to do with Hanajima and Uotani scaring him while subtly questioning his relationship with Miss Honda.

Not that he didn't care for Miss Honda, never let that be the case. He just didn't think of her as a romantic interest. He used to, yes, but things change over time, as everything but Shigure's pervertedness and Ayame's stupidity tends to do.

Miss Honda didn't love him as a romantic interest, and that was fine with him. But he would be her older brother and guard her against males until she found someone to love.

* * *

Haru watched Lenne wave goodbye to Momiji._ 'This relationship between them...it can be for better or worse. If Lenne only knew about our curse, or at least about Akito, she might not of gotten Momiji in trouble.'_

He was startled as she sat next to him. "Hello, Haru-san."

"...Lenne."

"Nope. I am Nanashi Arimaki, Private P.I." She looked over her shoulder, and glanced at everybody suspiciously, as if daring them to overhear her.

"Private Private Investigator?" Haru asked with a raised eyebrow._ 'Is she as crazy as she acts?'_ 'Nanashi' laughed.

"Private Persona Ideal! Nanashi is my very own identity, so I may sneak about and be sneaky, and generally do activities sneaky personas such as myself may do." She struck a pose with sparkling eyes and an Ayame-like smile. Haru looked at her with his same bland expression. "Huh. You act stranger and stranger everyday."

"You think that's strange?" She asked, giving him a 'you poor, poor naive boy you, you really have no clue to the extent of my stupidity and weirdness' smile. Amazing what one gesture can convey. "This is strange." She suddenly stiffened and stood ram-rod straight. Her eyes were blank as a breeze knocked her over. Still with a straight back, she rolled down the hall, mowing down innocent students, rammed into the wall, and turned the corner.

Haru continued looking down the hall, idily wondering if Lenne or Nanashi was going to come back, when a mini tornado came from the same hallway Lenne turned down and stopped suddenly revealing a girl in a school unifrom with a black trenchcoat and hat. She seemed not to notice the looks she was getting.

Of course, the girl couldn't leave it there, so she ran down the hall and stopped an inch from crashing into Haru. "_That_, my dear Haru-san, is strange. Would you rather I act like that? Huh? I can, yes yes indeed. I'd probably get more detentions and exasperated sighs, but since when do I care?"

"I'm guessing you started talking to me for a reason?" Lenne sat next to him as the students started gathering their scattered belongings.

"Why yes indeedy I did." She paused, seeming to think about how to phrase whatever she was going to say. "Is someone hurting Momiji?" Haru looked at her startled. "I don't believe him when he insists he fell down the stairs. No one gets that many cuts on their arm unless they fell down stairs covered in glass."

Haru was torn between decision. Lenne was worried about her friend, and she needed to know so she could prevent herself from doing something that would get Momiji or one of the other Sohma's hurt. But, that would lead to questions, then Lenne might accidentally figure something out. Then her memory would need to be erased, and she wouldn't even remember meeting Momiji.

"I can't tell you. Sorry. It's his decision, and his problem. He'll tell you when he's ready." _'Of course, he's already ready to tell you, he just can't.'_ "Just... some actions lead to others getting hurt."

Lenne sighed. "I guess I understand a little. I shouldn't be nosy. I'm sorry." She smiled at him. "You are a cryptic bastard, you know that?"

"Yup."

"Oh well, guess that insult doesn't work." She got up and grinned down at him. "But unluckily for you, now I'm gonna hang around you more often. I met you and Momiji first, yet I hardly hang out with you. See ya." _'Dammit. I guess none of the Sohma's can tell me anything, and Tohru's living with them. I should just ignore it...'_

Turning down an empty hallway, she jumped slightly as her mini-computer, which she fondly named Stupid Piece Of Junk after it alerted some demons to her position once (Spoj for short), played its little jingle. Sometimes she referred to it as her personal little singing minion, when she wasn't cursing at it. "I need to change that. It sounds like an ice cream jingle. Doodoodoo do do do-do-do-do-do-do-dooo..." She continued humming as she opened the screen and clicked the flashing icon.

"Lenne, I need you to... Stop humming that god-forsaken jingle!" Annoyance flashed across Artemis' face.

"Don't you mean goddess forsaken, because you have forsaken it? No wait, Apollo is represented as the god of medicine and music, since doesn't he own the Muses or something. But then again, Pan is like the mini-god of music, but he doesn't have his own singing minions--"

"Lenne! We can discuss who is god over what later!" Lenne must of sensed something was wrong, or else she got tired of being annoying, because she shut her mouth immediatly. "Thank you. Now, congratualations on the capture of the escaped demons last night. He was a low A-class demon, but you defeated him after a couple minutes." Lenne batted her eyelashes playfully. "T'weren't nothing but my duty, missus."

"Uh-huh. The innocent look works for you, but since I know you so well, it's creepy. Come to my garden after school, you have the day off, I checked, and we need to discuss that subject a little more."

"That's just code for you want to pound my ass into the ground and call it training, like you always do." Artemis copied Lenne's earlier playful look and voice. "T'isn't nuthin' but my duty, lil' missy."

"Just now I realize how annoying that is. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop."

"Yes, well, I called you not just to congratulate you and act like an idiot."

"Isn't that how you usually act?" Lenne slipped into a dark, empty classroom, not noticing a pile of clothing stacked in a back corner. Neither did she notice the orange cat that looked up startled, or the way it seemed to notice who she was. She sat on top of a desk, idily tracing **'Makoto heart Yuki'**. "So, what do you want."

"Hera's coming to visit you." Lenne looked at her questioningly. "Hera, the woman who makes you get an assistant? Why would she want to see me?"

"She doesn't believe you're right for the job, due to your playful mannerisms."

"**_WHAT_**!" Lenne finally noticed the cat when it jumped from the loudness of her voice and hit its head on a desk. "Oh, you poor thing." She walked over to it, and cradled it in her arms as it tried to stop the world from spinning. "What are you doing in here kitty?" She sat back down and set the feline in her lap before picking Spoj back up. "Yes, dogo on." She saw Artemis sweatdrop.

"My my, you're calm now. Well, Hera's going to pick a human disguise, and go down to Earth. I don't know when, she banished me to my garden for an indefinite amount of time." She ignored Lenne snickering, "You got grounded".

"She can choose any disguise she wants, and may watch you from afar, or approach you. She may tell you who she is, or stay in her false persona. Just act like you normally do, but do your job."

"Well, shouldn't I be able to sense her goddess energy? I've been training that."

"Hera is indeterminably powerful. She's been alive since almost the beginning of time. You're still a novice when it comes to your spirit energy. After three and a half months since you first became my assistant, you can sense B-class demons, humans to a certain degree, and you can only detect divine beings energy if they're not disguising it or sloppily covering it. That's a lot of progress from where you first started, barely being able to sense the lowest class demon, but you still need more training."

"And of course she's going to disguise it, and most likely berate me for not being able to tell, or you for not training me more."

"Yup. None of my assistants have ever been good enough for her, so don't feel insulted. Feel happy she put you on level with all the others and not a lower one."

"If you insist," Lenne said, rubbing the cats belly when it tried to get away. It immediatly stopped wriggling, and started purring, snuggling closer to her hand. She giggled. "Silly little kitty. First you act so tempermental, then your putty as soon as someone gives you a good belly rub. Huh, you act like Orangey, though I don't know how he'd react to have his stomach scratched." She amused herself to imagining Kyo's face, then moved on to her other friends.

"Lenne. Leeee-eeenne. LENNE!" Artemis yelled in exasperation. Lenne and the cat jumped. "WHAT?"

"Oh, never mind! Just be at my garden after school. Now hurry up, lunch is ending and homeroom's going to start in a couple minutes." Her face disappeared with a little >**beee-oop **as the computer screen blacked out.

"Goodbye Artemis, it was nice talking to you. Oh, I'll see you later. Okay, I'll say hi to Ryoko for you," Lenne muttered, pocketing Spoj in her. She eased the kitty off her lap. "See you later, kitty."

The cat hardly seemed to notice her absence as it lamented the warmth, before a cloud of smoke surrounded it and the cat turned into a naked sixteen year old orange haired boy. "Why the hell did I let her scratch my stomach?" Kyo questioned aloud as he got dressed. _'Stupid clumsy first year, if she hadn't tripped, I wouldn't of turned into a cat. Then Lenne had to discover my hiding place, and act like every other teenage girl. Who knew she liked cats?'_ His thoughts turned to Lenne's conversation on a ... a mirror. _'I knew that girl was weird.'_ His fiery eyes narrowed. _'If that doesn't scream secret, then I'm a disciple of Shigure.'_ He shuddered at the thought. "That's creepy."

He didn't notice the mechanical bug on the wall, even though it had a flashing red light on its back, or hear the whirr of it flying off to report to its master.

* * *

Yuki walked through the park, looking for the spot Hana told him about. As he finally turned around a maple tree and stepped into the clearing, he was surprised to see not only Hanajima and Arisa, but Haru and Kyo as well. 

"Yuki," Haru greeted him, latching himself to the older boys' side. "Hello, Haru," he said back distractedly.

"We called you here to discuss Lenne," Hana said, with her usual absence of pre-amble.

"Yeah. She's a nice kid and everything, but you get the feeling she's hiding something, ya know?" Arisa sat lounged against a tree, painting her nails a vivid crimson.

"Of course the kid's suspicious! She was talking through a damn mirror!" Kyo exclaimed, ignoring the 'you are totally loony' looks he got, and somehow even ignored the 'you stupid cat' look Yuki gave him. He told them about Lenne's conversation, extracting the part about him being a cat.

"Whoa. That is strange," Arisa said, absently putting a fourth coat on her nails.

"Arisa, three coats should be enough," Hana pointed out. "Her energy has been mildly fluctuating for the past half-month. I should of guessed something suspicious was going on. The only question now is if she is a danger to Tohru-kun." She looked to the side pointedly. "Right now she's over there. It seems the talking to the mirror part is true."

Lenne was indeed standing about fifty feet away, talking to a mirror. She lowered it slightly and looked around, like she knew someone was watching her. She looked startled as a loud noise came from her mirror, and she just waved her hand at it like a dismissal and said something. Then a small silver ball floated down from the sky, and Lenne held out her hand to it. As soon as she touched it, she disappeared. No slowly fading, no flashy lights, just gone. If you blinked, you would miss it.

The group was silent. "Well... now that is definately strange."

* * *

Artemis was lounging on a rock as Lenne appeared in her garden. She watched her assistant shake her head and stumble a little. "I don't think I could ever get used to that. It would make a good carnical ride though." 

"Lenne, dahling, so good to see you," Artemis drawled, in a false accent.

"Oh, reeeeally Artemis, you flatterer you," Lenne responded, using the same accent, softening her 'r's. "Is this the greeting I get after you're rather abrupt goodbye? You certainly know how to make it up to a girl."

Artemis laughed as Lenne did an overly exaggerated swagger, miming holding a cigarette and champagne glass. "Jeez, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were experianced. You aren't, are you?"

"Oh, I don't know. My mind is clouded by the enormous volumes of alcohol I inhale every night at the night clubs I go to in the red light district. Oh dear, whatever shall I do?"

"Just sit down." Lenne sprawled by Artemis' rock. "Tea?"

"Nah, I'm okay. So what do you want?"

"Just a minute. Sadi, could you get me some tea? The special type they make specially at that one shop in Ningenkai?" The girl bowed, and disappeared.

"Jeez, I didn't think you were one of those 'I _must_ have whatever that is from one specific place or else' types."

"I'm not. But you can only get that specific tea from that shop if you want it to taste good."

"Riiiight. Like it's not drugged or anything."

"Right. New subject. About the demon fighting escapades. Remember when I first told you about there being other gods, not just the Greek ones?"

"Um, yeah. I think that was when you first said I was to be your assistant?"

"Yes. Well, as you know, someone always is the boss of someone else. My uncle Hades is ruler of the dead. But the realm of the dead is quite big, since all dead souls since the beginning of humans and demons are sent there after they die. Even with re-incarnated souls, there are still millions." She shifted her weight to lounge more comfortably.

"The realm of the dead, also known as Reikai, is a large and complex operation. Hades is the big boss, and all ultimate decisions come to him. Now, off course there are going to be smaller problems. These go to his underlings. Enma is one of Hades sons. He rules over the Japanese Spirit Division and the Reikai Vault. The vault is one of the most guarded places anywhere. It's only been broken into once, by two of the best thieves ever.

"The Japanese Spirit Division consists of the judgement and placement of souls. King Enma's son, Koenma, does most of the paper work for that. Koenma has been placed in charge of a small division devoted to the capture and living regulations for dangerous creatures that come to Ningenkai. If there is a soul floating around causing damage that hasn't been caught by one of the ferry girls, or a demon, Koenma is in charge of apprehending them. He also is the one that gives permission for demons or half-demons to reside anywhere but the Makai."

"Um, ferry girls? Please tell me this Koenma dude doesn't have his own personal harem."

"No no, nothing like that! The ferry girls are daughters, grand-daughters, cousins, nieces, nephews, sons, and basically any relation of Hermes that wants to be a ferrier. Charons relatives are ferriers too. He's taking a millenium long vacation currently." Sadi reappeared with the tea. "Ah, thank you Sadi." The girl bowed and left.

"So, these ferriers could be gods or goddesses instead of ferriers?" Lenne asked, looking at her increadiously.

"Well, not gods exactly, more like inhabitants of Olympus and Reikai. They could be police forces in Reikai, keeping the souls under control, or followers of any god or goddess they wish. Hermes favorite great-great-great-grandniece, Botan, is in charge of all the ferriers in the Japanese division of the Spirit World.

"Now, getting back to Koenma. Since he deals with the dangerous creatures that come out of Makai or Reikai into Ningenkai, and has all that paper work to do, he doesn't have time to capture the criminals himself." She sipped her tea, and cleared her throat before continuing. "The ferriers and the ogres under his command wouldn't be able to catch them, so he has been allowed a Spirit Detective, like you're my assistant. Hera stole the idea from Hades.

"Now, Koenma's spirit team has evolved from one human, to the original human, who we discovered was a half-demon, a human, and the two demon thieves who were the only ones to break into the Reikai vault. The Reikai Tantei."

Lenne blinked. "Well damn. I don't have a team." She sighed and waved it off. "No no, it doesn't really matter. I'll live without one, possibly. But really, I thought you guys knew everything, and here it is that you didn't know that Koenma's detective was a half-demon until recently."

Artemis blushed. "It wasn't like it was common knowledge!" She protested. "We know now and that's what matters. But really, Koenma's just pig-headed. After he found his detective was half-demon, he wanted to arrest him for being dangerous! Jeez, it's not like he's ever done anyhting to conciously destroy Reikai, Makai, or Ningenkai." She rubbed her temples and took a deep breath. "But now he's back with the Reikai Tantei, though he's still being monitored. The reason I relied so heavily on you to apprehend these demons was because between the time the detective found out about his heritage to the time he was finally allowed to continue with his normal everyday life, the demons and wayward spirits decided to take advantage in the lull of security. Now that the Reikai Tantei has been re-instated, your workload should lighten considerably."

Lenne made a whining noise. "But that means I have to do more emotional cases." Artemis grinned at the pouting girl.

"Aww, poor baby." She patted her assistants head fondly. Lenne irratibly shook it off. "How's the Sohma case going?"

"Still confusing! I keep finding all these little hints that confuse me more." She pulled out Spoj and opened the file marked 'Sohma family secret'. "It has something to do with hugging. Many of the Sohma's are oblivious to the family secret. It only affects certain members. It seems these certain members usually go to an all-girl or -boy school, depending on their gender, which means that it has something to do with the avoidance of the opposite sex. They seem to regard this as some sort of curse. Maybe I should change the file name to 'Sohma family curse'? But of course..."

"Lenne, concentrate on the matter at hand."

"Yeah yeah. There's not much about this curse in general. I only know a few of the cursed members. Sohma's Yuki, Kyo, Ayame, Shigure, Kisa, and Haru. I think Momiji might be one, but I'm not sure. Honda Tohru seems to know their secret." She sighed. "This is all equaling one major headache. Why do I even need to find out their secret? It's there own personal buisness."

"I recently spoke with Cassandra's spirit."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Cassandra. She was a prophet in early Greece. Apollo gifted her with the power of the sight, but when she refused to love him, he cursed her so no one would believe her."

"Okay, so you went to see Cassandra's spirit, and you believe her too?"

"Well, she was cursed that no one would ever believe her as long as she lived, and she's no longer living. But she was blessed to always have the sight. She told me that you need to find out the Sohma's secret because it would be important later on."

"And that importance would include?"

"Sorry, can't tell you. You're supposed to figure it out yourself." She laughed at Lenne's sour expression. "Fate works in mysterious ways."

"Fate works to confuse and irritate people." Lenne stood up and stretched the kinks out of her back. Artemis winced at a particularly loud pop. "Oh, come on. It doesn't hurt as bad as it sounds. You of all people should know that."

"I still don't like listening to it." She shook her head as Lenne's laughter faded into the distance as she disappeared back to Ningenkai. "I wonder how she'd react if she knew how everyone was going to find out her secret."

* * *

Momiji wandered through the halls of the school, looking for Lenne. It had been three days since Lenne had asked Haru what had happened. He remembered Haru coming back to the main house with a strange expression and more silent than usual. 

_'I wonder what's wrong with him. It's like something happened when he went out earlier. Yuki and Kyo had the same expressions on their face.'_

He continued on his way after a group of first years squealed over how adorable he was 'with his little hat', and 'how cute he looked in the girls uniform', and 'his soft looking golden hair and could he tell them how he got it like that?'

He was distracted when there was a **'Doodoodoo do do do-do-do-do-do-do-dooo...'** coming from an empty classroom, and some grumbling. Curious, he opened the door a little. Unfortunately, at the same time, the inhabitant of the classroom opened the door, and Momiji fell on them. "Momiji-chan?" He heard Lenne's voice as the usual cloud popped up. When the smoke cleared, he saw Lenne, looking surprised, with hair hanging in her face, holding him up.

Before either of them could speak, a noise from Lenne's backpack distracted them. _'**Ding-ding-ding **Congratulations, you've discovered 'Sohma Momiji's' secret.'_

_

* * *

Ooh, cliffie! You'll all have to wait to figure out what happens next!_ **bursts into hysterical laughter**

_Gil: Well yes, that's typically what a cliffie imply's._

_Lynx: Shut up, or we find out how much you and Kyo are alike._

_Kyo: I still can't believe you were rubbing my stomach..._

_Lynx: Ya know you liked it._ **pounces on Kyo and proceeds to rub his stomach**

_Gil: -sweatdrops- Uhm, aren't you supposed to thank the reviewers?_

_Lynx: You're a big boy. -turns to Kyo- Yes you are, huh, you're a big boy..._

_Gil: Damn her._

_**Matron Raenee**: That's because the authoress is a moron. But at least she's written at least a third of chapter five already._

_**phantomess13**: Thank you for reviewing her story, even though she is a moron and-- _**Lynx pounces on him and finishes the thanking**_ And I'm grateful for the singing minion idea! We're all insane, some of us are just more open about it than others. Me for instance._

_Lynx: By the way, do you guys think you can help me with the genre? I'm horrible at that type of thing. See if you can guess what this is a crossover with yet. It's sorta obvious if you watch the show or read the manga..._


	5. Queen of Cheese

_'**Ding-ding-ding** Congratulations, you've discovered 'Sohma Momiji's' secret.'_

"Ah, shut up," Lenne said irratibly. She sighed. "I guess I should hide you before someone sees?" She only managed to set Momiji's clothing in the classroom before a group of chatting upperclass girls rounded the corner. "Oh, how adorable!" They squealed, rushing over.

Lenne expected them to fawn over Momiji, but was caught unaware when they started fussing over her. "Oh, look at how small she is!" "Oh, that rabbit, it's fur is so soft!" "I know, look at that golden color," "The girl's cute too! Look at her hair, those braids look like an expert did them."

Lenne just stood there laughing nervously, and Momiji tried not to bolt. They stood still, allowing the girls to fuss over them, but thoroughly hoping that they would be able to escape soon. "Oh, she's just like a little doll!"

"Uh, yeah, yay for me. Oh, gee, is it that time already? I need to get over to my friends house, he's expecting me, you know, we need to do our homework and everything. Well, bye!" Lenne took off down the hall, Momiji clutched securely to her chest. "Hold on a minute, I'll sneak in through the window to get our stuff."

Standing under a tree that reached up to the classroom Lenne was going to break in to, she looked down at Momiji. "So, do I leave you down here or take you with me?"

"I might transform back when you go to get our stuff," Momiji pointed out. Lenne jumped a little.

"You can talk in your animal state? Well damn, I didn't know that." Spoj made a little ringing noise, as if to tell her 'Duh, you stupid moron.' "Ah, shut up Spoj. You're lucky I still need you."

Tensing her muscles, she jumped up to a sturdy branch. She continued her way up by looking for branches that would hold her weight until she was just below the window they needed. She said a silent prayer to Artemis for the window already being open, and muttered an apology to Momiji before tossing him up through the open window. She grabbed the window ledge, and flipped herself in. Momiji clapped and held up ten fingers... er, both paws. Lenne held her pose of both arms raised above her head, like a gymnast just dismounted. She bowed elaboratley. "Thank you, thank you. I'll sign autographs later." She put Momiji's things in her bag, and grabbed the rabbit. "Now the fun begins." Instead of jumping to the ground, she branchhopped to the front gate of the school. "Now, where shall we go while we discuss what just happened?"

Looking thouroghly nervous, Momiji reluctantly told her how to get to the main house. There was no room to say anything, due to Lenne's insistance she run as fast as she could using trees and gates, and avoiding the ground. A grinning Lenne and harried looking Momji arrived at the front gate. "Should we wait until you're human?"

"No, that's okay. Could you just take me over the wall, and then I'll point you over to where I'm staying."

Lenne was confused as to why he'd need to point his house out, but as soon as they were over the wall, it was evident. There were about twenty buildings on each side of the tree-lined walkway, and four bigger buildings at the end of the stone walkway. There were flower plots placed seemingly at random, and the air was filled with an almost hypnotic aroma. It looked abandoned; there wasn't even a laundry line hanging out.

The main Sohma household was beautiful, in a cold, haunted, ethereal sort of way.

She cautiously walked in the direction of the house Momiji pointed out. It felt like making any noise here was forbidden, like everything would shatter. She didn't like this place at all.

She set Momiji on the porch of a traditional Eastern home and pulled his clothing out. She expected him to run off and change, but instead he shouted, "Ha'ri!"

Lenne stood nervously. The yell seemed to echo throughout the courtyard, but the silence soon descended again. She felt like she was being smothered. Definately not a good feeling. Then there was also that intense evil radiating about fourty feet away from there current location, that might have something to do with it.

A man in who looked to be in his mid-twenties stepped out of the house. He was handsome, like all the Sohma's, in a dark sort of way. He had black hair covering half of his face, and his eyes seemed to look on her coldly. She shivered involuntarily.

His eyes warmed a bit. "I think we need to step inside."

"Yupyup! This is Aoyama Lenne, my friend from school." She waved nervously.

"I'm Sohma Hatori. Please, come in." Lenne entered cautiously, and settled herself on a cushy zabuton. Hatori and Momiji went into another room, and Lenne could hear low voices. She pulled Spoj out, and tapped the 'emergency' button. She watched it whirr a little, then do nothing. She started punching the offending button repeatedly, and heard an amused chuckle. She froze and looked up. Hatori was standing in the doorway, watching her.

Lenne laughed nervously. "These darn compacts! Really, sometimes you just need to push the hinge a little for them to stop freezing up," Lenne told him, matter-of-factly. She smiled brightly, knowing he didn't believe her excuse at all.

"You've discovered the Sohma family secret. Congratulations."

"Oh, it's a family secret? I just thought Momiji was speci--"

"You know very well it's a family secret. Momiji overheard your... compact?" he said with raised eyebrows.

Lenne sighed. Damn it all, explanations were definately in order.

* * *

The blonde man sat lounged in his chair, looking for all the world a bored teenager. An older woman stood behind him, smiling indulgently. 

The two fighters down in the pit continued there desperate fight, each hoping to live just another day longer if possible.

The man clapped slowly as the fighter in black finally beheaded the fighter in orange. The survivor bowed nervously, the blonde man chuckling at him. That was the last sound her heard as the pit filled with fire.

The womans smile disappeared when a disheveled low-class demon stumbled up to the man's chair and hastily kneeled.

"Show more respect to your lord, pig. Your appearance is offensive, and your manners leave much to be desired."

"Now, now, Hikari. He doesn't have the same upbringing as us. He was raised in that miserable waste land they call the mild part of the Makai. Forgive him for not knowing any better." He looked down on the demon with a mixture of coldness and curiosity. "Well, what is it?"

Resisting the desire to run up and strangle the man, the demon held out one hand. Perched on it was a mechanical bug, whirring away. "I have caught something that might be of interest to you, lord. It seems it was on it's way back to Aki, that dirty pig."

"Really. I didn't ask you're opinion on anything. Well, bring it up here." The demon shuffled his way up to the dais, avoiding the woman's looks. The man picked it up and examined it like it was simply a trinket hardly worth mentioning. Not stopping his scrutiny, he put his hand through the demons chest. Flinging the body away, he motioned the woman to clean it up.

He carefully turned the bug over and pressed a miniscule button. From the jewel on the bugs back, life-like hologram of a black-haired girl in a school uniform sitting on something popped up, and seemed to be talking to a mirror. The man grinned. Lord Aki would definetly find this of interest.

* * *

Hatori watched the Lenne girl as she finished her story and gave him an affirmative nod. He stirred his tea, keeping his face emotionless. "You almost died three and a half months ago." 

She nodded. "Yup."

"The goddess Artemis is now your employer, and you now have these 'emotional cases' and also apprehend demons."

She nodded. "Yup."

"You have a miniature computer that tells you information about any person you want, and you learned the Sohma's have a secret that way."

She nodded. "Yup."

"Artemis told you it was vital for you to learn our secret."

She nodded. "Yup."

"Do you realize how moronic this sounds?"

She nodded. "Yu--" She froze, then nodded her head. "Yup."

"Oh come on. People who hear your story would say the same thing," said a woman's voice from the corner. They looked over to see a green-haired woman lounging in a chair that wasn't there before.

"Artemis," Lenne said tersly. "Don't be rude. If any other person heard this, they'd be running around screaming that I need to be sent to a loony bin. At least they're nice enough to keep their thoughts to themselves, and keep nodding."

"Oh, you're no fun." The goddess stood up, and with a snap of her fingers, the chair disappeared.

"Now you're just showing off." Lenne shook her head as Artemis laughed. "Sometimes I could swear you were on drugs."

Hatori's mouth was slightly open as he watched this exchange. He didn't hear anybody enter, and armchairs just don't disappear when someone snaps on coincidence. "I take it you're Artemis?"

"Yes, it is I, Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt, also known as Diana, and other various names throughout history. Bow before my excellence."

"You really don't have to," Lenne interjected. "She says that to everybody, and they all think she needs psychological help. And sometimes I think she does too."

"Like you're one to talk. You think your alarm clock is possessed by an evil radio spirit."

"You're really pretty!" Momiji told Artemis. She smiled fondly at the little rabbit.

"The reason I'm here is to warn you, you better not erase my assistant's memory."

"What?" Lenne screamed. "They were going to erase my memory! Now that's really not fair. They'd know my secret and I'd forget theirs, and I would probably be going around acting like a two year old because my memory was erased!"

"I have more control over my power than to completely erase someone's memory by accident," Hatori said, more than a little annoyed.

"You act like a two year old anyway, so there wouldn't be any difference." The goddess turned her back on the fuming girl. "Like I told Lenne earlier, she was meant to figure out your secret, and you were meant to know hers. I just forgot to tell her that part." She scratched her head sheepishly before turning serious.

"Of course, now you mustn't tell anybody her secret. She won't tell anyone yours, she has more honor than to do that." Lenne threw herbag at Artemis, and pouted when she dodged. "You can't even tell the head of the family Lenne knows your secret. Then you would undoubtedly be ordered to erase her memory, and that can't happen. The war between Aki and Lenne is beginning, and she need all the helpshe can get."

Lenne stared at her. " You're being insulting!And cryptic too! Haru's also a cryptic bastard! Why's everyone gotta be cryptic bastards?"

Artemis put a mock hurt look on her face. "I'm not a bastard, my father's on Olympus, we still see each other. I just don't have a mother. What do you call that?..."

"I don't know. Both my parents are gone, so I'm an orphan. Are you an orphan? Being an orphan isn't so bad. When people ask what's wrong with you, you can say you're an orphan and your mommy doesn't love you, and then they feel bad." She started laughing hysterically. "Those morons, they believe it every time!"

"Aren't we getting a little of subject?" Hatori asked. His question fell on deaf ears, as Lenne Momiji, and Artemis kept acting stupid, bringing up random subjects. "I need more tea."

* * *

"Shut up, you stupid cat." 

"What! Don't call me stupid, you damn rat! I'll make you say you're sorry!"

"I'm sorry to be seen in public with you, so if you would kindly go away, people wouldn't be staring at us."

Yes, another shopping day. Kyo and Yuki always went to help carry the bags, and yet they could never get along, and sometimes ended up dropping a bag or two.

"Uhm, no, I'm sorry, but I really have to get going..." The two quarelling boys turned around when they heard Tohru. She was backed against a wall, her hands tied up with grocery bags, being leered at by an older guy.

"Ah, come on honey, you look tense. Just go out with me. I know several ways to relieve that tension, and I guarentee you'll enjoy them."

"I think she told you no," Yuki told him, placing himself between the two.

"Yuki-kun!" Tohru whispered, glad someone came to her rescue.

"Oh, you're pretty too. How about you and your friend come out with me and my friends. A pretty thing like you needs a man in her life." Yuki's eyebrow twitched.

"HEY! They told you to piss off." Kyo stood behind the guy, ready to punch his face in.

"Yeah? Who the hell are you?"

"Her older brother," Kyo said casually, punching the older man hard enough to launch him across the lot. "Scum."

They walked home in relative silence after Tohru stopped thanking them. As Tohru set the bags down, she halted the boys. "Did you really mean that about the brother thing?"

Kyo, who had been angrily steaming at the perverted guy quietly, softened his expression. "Of course," he said gruffly, not looking at her. He ruffled her hair, and left to go to the roof. Tohru smiled happily.

"Miss Honda, remember you always have family in this house," Yuki told her smiling gently. Tohru almost started crying. 'I have a family... Mom would be really happy!' "Oh, thank you so much, Yuki!" she cried. But of course, she accidently tripped, and Yuki caught her.

**POOF**

"I'm sorry!" Tohru cried. "I really shouldn't keep landing on my family, or else you're going to hate me!"

"We could never hate you," Yuki consoled her, sweatdropping. She really did overreact sometimes. But it was just one of her endearing qualities.

* * *

Lenne and Momiji were happily cheering as they walked to school the next day. 

"I get to keep my memories! And I can finally share my secret with someone! I feel like I could fly! Geez, that's a cheesy line, isn't it?"

"Yup, you are the queen of cheesy!"

Lenne stopped and held a pose. "Yes, I am queen. And all my loyal subjects shall wear cheese hats, and make sculptures out of grass!" Momiji applauded her, and all pedestrians gave them a wide berth as if insanity was contagious.

When they finally reached school, of course, they were acting as normal as possible. They waved happily to the principal and decided to bug Higurashi-sensei before class started.

"L-O-V-E Lovely lovely Yuki! Y-y-y-y-yuki! Y-y-y-y-yuki!" The prince Yuki fanclub was once again doing there insane little cheer/clapping thingy, which meant one thing. Either Prince Yuki was around, or they were going to yell at someone for daring to breathe around him. Wait, that's two things. (Remember, there are three kinds of people in the world: People who can count, and people who can't)

Lenne and Momiji just walked past and ignored them. "Weirdos..."

"Excuse me, Aoyama Lenne, just who do you think you are?" Asked the annoying twerp with pigtails.

"You are a stupid one, aren't you? You just said I was Aoyama Lenne."

"Don't mock us!" said Twerpette 2.

"I wasn't, I was mocking your friend. There's a difference between one person and a group. Shouldn't you of learned that a long time ago? Are you sure you're older than me?"

"You've been hanging around with Prince Yuki!" said Twerpette 3.

"Why, I believe I have. My your observant, but I suppose stalkers must be."

"And you even dare to hang out with his relatives!" they cried, pointing their fingers at her.

"Well, if you look to my side, you'd see Momiji staring at you like you're lunatics, so I guess he doesn't really care."

They walked off, leaving the three twerpettes squawking with indignation.

"Can you believe that girl?" "I know, she acts like she owns the place most of the time!" "She's just like that Honda girl!" "She hangs out with her too, and the yankee, and the witch! She's going to taint our dear Prince Yuki!"

They froze as the usual bad feeling started creeping up there spine. Ice gripped their joints. "You wouldn't be talking about Tohru-kun, would you?" A quiet voice from behind murmured.

"IT'S THE WITCH!" they shrieked, running off as fast as they could, not noticing Yuki staring after them.

"Huh, you're fanclub gets weirder every day," Arisa remarked.

* * *

Ryoko waved goodbye to Kisa, and entered the apartment. She was happy Kisa's house was on the way to hers, so they could walk to and from school together everyday. 

"I'm home!" she called, knowing Lenne was already headed for work. She picked up some scattered take-out boxes. Their apartment was slightly nicer than what they'd be able to afford without Artemis' help. It was only three rooms with a kitchenette, but was still bigger than others. Their bedroom was big enough for them to cram two beds in with enough room to walk. They really should get futons, but the beds came with the apartment.

Sighing, she tossed her bag on her bed. She eyed Lenne's side warily. The black ominous feeling she always got when she looked over there came back. The sheets were a tangled mess, after Lenne fell out of her mini cocoon this morning, and she had clothes piled to one side. Papers were strewn across the floor, and her extra uniforms for school and work were in a pile Lenne claimed was the stuff that needed to be washed, even though it was at least half of her wardrobe. _'Why is my sister such a slob?'_

She decided to do her homework. Digging through her bag, she frowned when she discovered she was missing a book. She reached up toward the shelf they kept books on, growling when she could hardly reach any of the spines. She jumped up and down lightly, not wanting to disturb their neighbors. She let out a meep when the shelf collapsed and all the books rained down on her. Nursing her injured head, Ryoko let our a triumphant cry when she noticed her book. She would make Lenne fix the shelf when she came home.

Picking up her book, she noticed an open photo album beneath it. It was Lenne at two and a half years old, waving happily as Mom lounged exhaustedly on the couch behind her. Ryoko didn't remember her mom much; she left when Ryoko was barely one.

She flipped through the album, smiling slightly. There was herself when she was just born; Lenne cuddling with her, showing off their total combination of 21 teeth; their mother pregnant with Lenne. A sign in the background caught her eye. She knew Mom met Dad after highschool, Lenne told her. But in the background their was a sign that read **'Congratulations Graduating Class of 1990'**, and their mother was already slightly swollen.

Their mother said she didn't meet their father until after highschool. But here she was pregnant, and barely graduating. Did that mean...?

* * *

_Did you guys havea heart attack yet? I posted so soon, didn't I? I already have the outline for up to chapter ten, I just need to type them up._

_The stupid counting thing in the middle, ...one of my friends actually didn't get that until we explained it to her..._

_So, thanks to all my reviewers, you guys are so nice! And if you're reading this and not reviewing, review or else I'll hunt you down, rip your heart out, force feed it to you, partially disembowel you,then dump your body in the river where no one will find it until it washes on shore and they find a suicide note lodged firmly in your ribcage. _**smiles nicely**


	6. Brain Freeze is for Morons

Ice cream is good for lots of things. Boyfriends buy it for their girlfriends and watch them eat it while thinking perverted thougts. Depressed females devour it by the carton. But one of the best uses, of course, is for morons to get brainfreeze. 

"Itai! It hurts! Really bad; I shouldn't of done that," Lenne whined pitifully, holding her head. Momiji watched her from his seat, absently licking his cone.

"Maybe you shouldn't of bitten the whole scoop."

"Right, I should of only bit half of it." She nodded, then whined and cradled her head in her hands.

"No, I think you should've waited until it wasn't so cold. It just came out of the freezer," he pointed out.

"Yay! Brain freeze over!" Lenne happily jumped up and down, somehow managing not to drop her cone. Her happy cheering was interrupted when she ate the second scoop whole. "Itai, my head!"

Momiji laughed and studied Spoj. Lenne showed him the database, and he was busy looking at his own profile, totally ignoring his friend as she hopped around behind him.

"But what about the emotional cases? How do you assign something like that?"

"You don't." Lenne looked upset. "I have to figure out who needs help by myself and then take care of it. All part of Artemis' plan to make me more of a people person." She looked at a group that was staring at her strangely. "What are you looking at?"

"So this is what you've been getting most of your missions from?"

"Well, they come from Artemis first, but yeah, basically."

Momiji grinned. "You're being ruled by a piece of hardware."

Lenne froze. "Oh my goddess! A computer has been telling me what to do! I can never be the same again. They were right, computers are taking over!" She fell to her knees, looking horrified. "Before you know it, a computer will take over my job! Noooooo, please don't replace me!"

"Awww, the hyper little kids are on a date," a voice from behind said. Lenne bent over backwards so she was still on her knees, upside down.

"Hellos, Uo-chan! And Haru-kun, Tohru-kun, Yuki-kun, Hana-chan, and orangey-head-kun." Arisa was grinning at them, Haru was looking mildly upset about something, Tohru was smiling her trademark smile, Yuki was smiling his little half-smile thing, Hanajima was being herself, and Kyo looked pissed off.

"Don't call me orangey-head!"

"Me and Momiji-chan aren't on a date. Why don't you guys sit down and chat with us?"

"Sure, why not. We've been bored anyway." As they sat down, Lenne struggled to get back up. She finally gave up when she heard a pop.

"Damn. I heard something in my back pop. Haru-kun, could you help me out here? Itai, hey you little brat, stop poking me!" A three year old in the next booth found it fascinating to poke her stomach with his little action figure.

Haru watched her struggle with the little kid for a couple minutes, a small smile on his lips. Of course, he really should of helped her up right away, since due to her struggling, Lenne's shirt was exposing her stomach, and creeping further up. Black Haru wanted to come out and visit.

He gently but firmly helped her back up. "Hah! You can't poke me anymore, drool face! Arigato, Haru-kun!" Lenne stretched her arms above her head, popping several times, but not as painfully as before. Haru watched as her shirt rose a little, exposing a toned stomach

"I'll see you guys later. I've got stuff to do," Haru said, walking out of the shop. Lenne watched him with a confused expression.

"Did he seem in a hurry, or is it just me?" Lenne asked, sitting at their booth.

Arisa and Kyo had knowing smirks, and everyone else just smiled knowingly but shook their heads. Yuki, Kyou, and Tohru had seen Black Haru wanting to come out, knowing he'd like to get to know the younger girl better. "Hey, you guys aren't telling me something."

"Ah, forget it," Arisa said, flapping her hand at the confused girl. "So, didja hear about that incident in the music store yesterday?"

* * *

It was almost completely dark, if it wasn't for the street lamps dull glow. The wind shook the trees quietly, masking the sound of several somethings hopping through the branches. This went on all the way down to an almost deserted street corner, under a flickering streetlamp. There were several figures already standing there when the tree-hoppers joined them.

They continued talking quietly as one of them scaled the streetlamp's post and turned it off with a punch. They didn't notice another shadowy figure stalking closer until a blue blast ripped through one of them. "I can't believe I got woken up for this," a voice grumbled. The figures surrounded their mystery attacker.

"And just what makes you think you can do that?" one of them asked harshly.

"Excuse me?" The voice was obviously female at this point. "I've been woken up at two in the morning, and all you can ask is what makes me think I can kick your ass? I can, because I have to, and I will, because you interrupted my sleep!" She seemed not to notice one of the demons was sneaking up on her until she turned around and punched him in the face. This seemed to be a signal as the others rushed her.

"Hey, now that's not nice! You think you can do that? Hey, I didn't give you permission to put your hands there! Ha, you deserved that, and you too, perverts." The scuffle was ended when the girl delivered a round kick to the last demon standing. "Yep, I believe I'm allowed to do that. Hey, wait a minute, one two three... there's one missing. This isn't gonna end good." Don't you hate it when these things come true?

There was a muffled cry as a knife whizzed by her, slicing open one cheek. The girl looked around, using her spirit energy sensors. "Where are you hiding, bastard." She meeped as a figure tackled her from behind. She struggled to at least punch him, but he had her firmly pinned with her arms above her head. "You're a pretty thing, aren't you?" The girl shuddered as the demon licked the side of her face. "You'll sell for a lot in the market. A little fiesty virgin girl, although you're a little flat-chested..."

"I'M NOT FUCKING FLAT CHESTED!" the girl screamed as her eyes glowed, and her spirit energy surrounded her body in a barley controlled torrent. "HEAVEN'S DESTROYER!" The demon was knocked back as he was shocked the bluish-silver energy surrounding the girl. She took aim as several blast came from her fist. "And who said I needed my hands free to get you off me?" she murmured as she surveyed the damage. Bodies strewn across the corner, disembodied limbs, blood, insides, and the charred remain of the demon who previously was pinning her. "Damn. I gotta clean all this up too, or I'll never hear the end of it."

* * *

Artemis sighed in exasperation as Lenne yelped and wriggled on the ground. "Lenne, just let him clean it. You don't need stitches." Her assistant was gently but firmly pinned beneath Apollo as he cleaned her various wounds from her mission.

"That's just what you want me to think! Then when I'm unsuspecting, you come sneaking up with that damn needle. I'm not going to sit idily while you try to kill me!"

"You're not sitting, you're laying down," Apollo pointed out as he finished dabbing the cut on her cheek. He moved on to checking her ribs for damage. "Needles won't kill you. Unless they're loaded with drugs, or dirty." He grinned as Lenne started giggling in spite of herself. He poked her side again. "Who knew you were ticklish?"

"You're not helping, brother. Now she's going to be paranoid about all needles, and insist they be thoroughly cleaned before they're allowed anywhere near her." Artemis pretended to be devastated, but her brother and assistant both could see she was hiding a smile.

"I'm already paranoid. What's a little more going to hurt? Besides-- itai! That's a bruise, if you couldn't see! Besides, if isn't aren't clean, it isn't going into my skin." She glared as Apollo continued poking along her legs. "Nothings broken, just really bruised. Stop poking them!"

"It may not be broken, but I need to make sure there aren't any fractures," Apollo said gently. "They could go unnoticed until the damage is irreversable." He smiled as Lenne muttered an apology quietly.

"You, my little assistant, need more training. You didn't sense the attack or the attacker, and you didn't finish the other scuffle as quickly as I would of liked." Artemis poked Lenne's cheek as the smaller girl stuck her tongue out.

"I got a little too cocky. And I think I need to work on speed. Females are generally more agile than males, and can't take as many hard hits, but I need to be faster and stronger. My spirit energy could use a lot of work to."

"I know. You didn't completly dissolve him to ashes. Nice job cleaning up, by the way. It just looked like a mild gang war."

"Well, if I don't stay an assistant, and I drop out of school or don't go to college, I can always get a job as a cleaning lady. 'Make your messes look like a mild gang war just happened.' You know Ayame-sama has enough maid outfits."

Apollo finally finished with his inspection, and helped Lenne to her feet. "Now take it easy, you're still healing," he told her with false seriousness. "Or else I may just have to strap you to a bed and leave you there. Or I could strap you to a bed and..."

"Why, that's highly inappropriate, doctor," Lenne told him with a smile. "You might make your other patients jealous."

"And who says I don't give my other patients the same treatment? Or that I even have any other patients?"

"Because it says you have a lot of other appointments scheduled," Lenne told him, casually flipping through his schedule book. "Aw, you even cancelled one to give me special treatment. Don't I feel special."

"Hey, when did you get that!"

"Right when you decided it necessary to wrestle me to the ground when I tried to run away. You got an appointment with the gray sisters coming up after this." She smiled as the god snatched his book back.

"Well, I guess I won't give you a goodbye kiss then," he said, turning his back, his eyes turned upward. He was surprised when he felt a warm body press to his. Looking down he saw Lenne. "Aw, you wanted to give me a kiss?"

Lenne slapped him lightly. "Nope. Just looking at your eyes. They change color. Right now there this really cool orangey-red-brown color. Maybe Kyo-kun's related to you. Except his are plain crimson."

Apollo kissed her cheek as she continued to study his eyes as brilliant lavender started appearing in his eyes. "And you're not flat-chested," he told her, before disappearing.

"Hey! Come back here so I can smack you! Since when did you see whether I am flat or not?"

"Gee, I don't know," Artemis commented drily from behind. "Maybe when you had to take your shirt off so he could check your back?"

* * *

"Snow, snow, I love it so!" A fifteen year old girl danced under the falling snow flakes, with Kagome Higurashi watching her. Kagome laughed as Lenne smashed into a tree and was buried under the snow.

"You're so short, I'm suprised you don't fall under the snow when you walk," she teased. Lenne leape up. "I'm not that short, you meanie. You're short too, so nyah." They both laughed, knowing how ridiculous they must seem.

"So, have you asked Lord Sesshoumaru?" Lenne asked, still twirling through a snow drift.

"Fluffy-kun said he'd set out some trust-worthy spies for Artemis, and they'll report directly to him, who will write it down and give me the papers directly, and I'll give directly to you or Artemis."

"Being a court miko has its advantages. You can even call the most esteemed, cold-hearted lord of Makai Fluffy."

"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not a court miko," Kagome said with exasperation. "Sesshoumaru is a friend of mine, and I only do this as a favor to him. He's like an older brother to me. I just act as miko for important ceremonies, and visits for esteemed dignitaries. They'd be offended if any of Sesshy's staff was missing, or his family, and I happen to be part of both, even if I'm more like adopted family. I go to visit for family events." She sipped her coffee.

Lenne laughed as she chased a squirrel. "You do realize that's a court miko with special privelages. You don't live in the palace, but you're almost on his beck and call, if he didn't have more respect for you than to do so. With family visits of course," she finished with a mocking tone. "Aww, mister squirelly ran away."

"Hey, don't make me fail you," Kagome warned. "Or I'll just bring back all those bruises and add some." Lenne paused, looking past her teacher, and tore off after a man. "Ha'ri-san!" Kagome watched Lenne exchange greetings with the older man. He was handsome. She idily wondered if Lenne was involved in a relationship with an older man.

Lenne was practically dragging the man over to Kagome. "This is my teacher. Say hello like a good boy."

"Sohma Hatori."

"Higurashi Kagome. Sorry about Lenne, she was dropped on her head as a child." The two adults smiled shyly at each other, trying to think of something to talk about, hoping Lenne would open a conversation for them.

Lenne stuck her tongue out. "Higurashi-san is involved with the whole war movement. Ha'ri-san knows about it, and almost erased my memory once."

Lenne smiled to herself as they chatted about the war for a couple minutes, before finding they shared doctoring abilities. "Well, I have to go to work now. See you two later." She chuckled to herself evilly, plans to get them together forming in her head, knocking out the sugar plum fairies that were already dancing there. "Ooh, sugar plum fairies! I bet they taste like candy. Hey, where are you running off to?"

The two adults watched as Lenne chased after a man dressed in a fairy suit who was innocently advertising his store. They sweatdropped as she tackled him and demanded he give her sugar. Then they turned back to there conversation, ignoring Lenne as she ran by being chased by a police officer.

* * *

_AN: Yesterday, I was watching Moulin Rouge, one of the most awesome movies evah! And I came up with a really weird idea. Kurama from YYH as Satine; Karasu as the Duke since, you know, he tried to rape Kurama and everything; Yusuke, Kuwabara, Jin, and Touya as the Bohemians; Chu as one of the Bohemian actors or Tolouse; Hiei as Christian; Youko or Koenma as Zidlier; and Botan, Keiko, and Yukina as other courtesans. o.O Yeeeeah. Then I thought of Kurama as Christian, and Botan or Yukina as Satine. Anyone up for the challenge?_

_**Matron Raenee: I'M SOOOORRY! I SHOULD DIE FOR MY GRIEVOUS ERRORS! I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE FOR FORGETTING THE INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS! I'M SORRY, I APOLOGIZE TO EVERYONE!**_

_**ROGMethos: It is a very messy method. This is an idil threat. I'll really chase down the non-reviewers with a rusty spork and a lead pipe. You have nothing to worry about. But I think you've been reading my outlines... -shifty eyes- You haven't, have you?**_


	7. You heard me, Sasquatch!

Ryoko smiled at Kisa. Winter Vacation was starting, but Lenne was going to train with Artemis. The first part of their training trip would take place in random locations all over Japan, and Lenne didn't want Ryoko hiking with them, when there was a chance she would get lost. Kisa asked Ryoko to stay over with her until New Years. 

"Come on, lets go meet this Hiro person you keep telling me about!"

"You'll like him, he's really nice. Just a little rough around the edges," Kisa said softly. She never stuttered around anyone she felt comfortable with, just everyone else. "A little like your sister..."

Ryoko stopped in mid-step, her eyes wide. "I don't have to see her for one and a half weeks, but I have to deal with her clone?" She groaned. "Oh my goddess, this is going to be tough."

"He's not as crazy as her," Kisa said, trying to reassure her friend before she ran away, "just sorta thinks like her."

"Hey Kisa, how have you been?" said a brown haired boy, coming up behind them.

"Hello Hiro. I'm doing good," Kisa said, smiling. "This is my friend, Aoyama Ryoko."

Ryoko bowed. "Hello."

"Hm, I'm Hiro." He gave her a look, and turned away from her slightly. Ryoko's eyes narrowed.

"What is your problem? I just met you, and already you act like you don't like me."

"You're saying I have problems? Are you some type of psychiatrist? It's not really for you to judge if I have problems or not. Some people act friendly right away to everyone, and I don't. Why be friends with someone if they can't stand all their moods?"

"Hiro, please don't cause any problems," Kisa pleaded softly.

"No Kisa, we need to work this out. If we don't solve our problem with each other, or at least come to an understanding, there's not going to be any peace between us. So, you have to continue to be so cynical, twist people's words around, and mess with their minds. Yeah, I'd classify that as a problem."

"So now you have to dissect my personality? Oh, bravo, you've only done what everyone else figures they must do."

"I don't care if you have to be so bad-tempered. Go ahead and be like that, and see how many friends that gets you. Do you feel like you have to chase everyone away?"

"I don't need to be friends with someone who feels like they can't stand me!"

"And when did I say I couldn't stand you!" Ryoko exploded. "You just come in here, I try to be polite, and you go and shove that in my face! I'm trying to be your friend!"

"And if I don't want to be your friend?"

"Well, to bad, I'm going to do it anyway!" Hiro looked shocked. "I've dealt with my sisters mood swings, and you can be sure I'm going to deal with yours. I just want to be friends. Even if you don't want to, I'm going to continue to be nice and polite, and hang around with you." She smiled at him. "So there."

Kisa smiled as they continued shooting glares at each other. They were going to be good friends, she could tell.

* * *

Lenne glared at her bag. Maybe if she gave it a really dirty look, it would explode, and all the clothing would land in the correct drawer. Yep. Any minute now... Any minute. Maybe if she put a little energy into it. 

"Lenne, if you and that bag have issues, you should work them out. It won't do you any good to burn it, because when it gets out of the hospital, it's going to hunt you down." Artemis stepped into her assistants room, a smile twitching the corners of her mouth.

"We do have issues. I don't want to put my stuff away, and the bag can just explode in the general direction for my extra stuff, but it won't," Lenne explained patiently, like she was talking to a two year old. "And the zipper just happens to be broken."

Artemis gave her a look. "You are a goddess' assistant, have dealt with demons, somehow managed to stay in school with your attitude, and you can't open your bag? There is something wrong here. Very very wrong."

"Why don't you just hire the bag instead of me? It would do a better job since it can defeat me."

"Just unpack and get ready. We're going to Nerima first, there are some martial artists there I want you to train with." She left, chuckling as Lenne bowed to her bag.

"You are a worthy opponent. I bow to your skills, and look forward to our next meeting." She knew she could deal with a broken zipper. She was just minding her buisness when laziness snuck up on her. "I should guard my back more carefully before something else sneaks up on me. Like politeness. Ooh, that would be horrible."

She shoved her extra clothing in a semi-neat heap in a dresser, and put the rest of it in a small backpack. She sighed and surveyed the room, looking for anything she may have missed. It was neater than the apartment, considering Lenne didn't use this room often.

It was about twenty by twenty, Western styled walls. There was a small futon folded in the corner, a wardrobe in the opposite corner, and a small desk on the wall opposite the window. Artemis had a bookshelf and desk there to try and motivate Lenne to study when she had free time. Like that would work.

The windows were situated to overlook the garden. With the window open, it gave the room a tranquil feel, something the energetic teen wasn't used to. 'This is nice,' she thought lazily, staring quietly as the wind blew softly. 'I could get used to meditating and being quiet if it was here.'

"Lenne! Come on, come on, let's go see you get your ass kicked by random martial artists," Artemis trilled, practically dancing. She stopped when she saw her assistant staring out the window, a peaceful look on her face, her eyes blank. She blinked slowly. 'Lenne is actually being quiet! Oh, I knew this was the perfect room for her.'

Lenne half-turned and grinned lazily. "Oh, don't you have so much confidence in me. Maybe if I train hard enough, I'll be able to pound your ass into the ground, then you'll see what I've gone through."

They left teasing each other, but that one peaceful moment was still on their minds.

* * *

Hiro, Kisa, and Ryoko sat in Shigure's living room, watching a new Mogeta movie. Well, Ryoko and Kisa were anyway. Hiro was just sitting there, his eye twitching slightly as he listened to the cheesy dialouge. '"I'll be with you forever, no matter what, even if I go to the other side of the world, because I love you"? This has just gone from bad to worse since they added the love interest.' 

"That was so sad," Kisa said, wiping a tear away as the credits started rolling.

"I know. I mean, she just leaves to go to that dance school in the US, but she confessed her love to the evil twin, instead of her true love. This is going to rip them up for sure."

"I know. And there family problems, too." Kisa sighed. "That was so sad, their father walking out and then their mother dying." Ryoko stayed quiet. "Ryoko, is something wrong."

"Um, I wanna show you guys something." She got up, and went to her room. Kisa looked at Hiro, and he shrugged. "I don't know what she's talking about."

Ryoko came back a couple minutes later with a book. "This is our family's photo album," she explained, flipping it to the page with their mother's graduation photo. "This was our mother. She met our father after high school."

* * *

"Hey Artemis! Can we go back to Nerima?" Lenne asked, skipping backwards through the forest. 

"But don't you want to go to the other dojos?" she asked, watching Lenne expertly dodge trees.

"Well yeah, but I wanna spar with Ranma again! He's fun. Akane's not though, and I don't think I can survive her cooking." She made a face. "I don't like how she keeps blaming him for everything. It's not his fault he's half-girl, she should be kicking the crap out of Genma."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "If it bugs you so much, why don't you take it on as an emotional case?" Lenne gasped and looked at her like she was crazy.

"Are you suggesting that I should do an emotional case during my vacation when I won't even do them during the school year?" It looked like she was about to run into a shrub, but dodged at the last second.

"Well," Artemis said, "I guess we don't have to." Turning around, she started walking away.

"Now hold on a minute! He's my friend, we can't just leave him hanging!" Lenne stopped skipping. "It's decided, we're going back to Nerima. Hold on Ranma, I comin' to save you!" She started sprinting towards Nerima.

'She's going to run into a tree,' Artemis thought. It was confirmed when she heard a thunk and loud cursing while a flock of birds flew away in fright. 'She can go backwards, but can't run past a tree going forward. Something is desperately wrong with her.'

* * *

In a tavern somewhere in one of the worst parts of the Makai at a rickety table, with two grime covered glasses filled with some blood-based whiskey, two men sat together. 

"So, she's found a new assistant," said the cloacked man, examining the metal bug his servant gave him.

The blonde man nervously coughed. "Er, Lord Aki--"

"Yes, but it doesn't matter, Akumu, don't worry. Just a small bump in my way, easily disposed of. She's quite a moron, isn't she? Yes, this will only be too simple."

"Lord Aki--"

"For years I have been integrating my troops with the humans, so that even they themselves do not know who they are. My pet hasn't been gaining their loyalty just the way I would have, but loyalty through fear will be as effective as undying loyalty through gratitude and affection."

"Lord Aki!" Akumu finally was able to get a word in.

"There's no need to shout, Akumu, I'm right here."

"Your make-up is smudging."

Even under the hood, Akumu could see his lord's look of horror. "What! Oh, I knew I should of brought my kit with me. I'm still pretty, right?" He whipped a mirror out and patted his face anxiously. "Answer me! Am I still pretty?"

"Yes, my lord," the blond general answered with a sigh. He'd probably get a 'reward' later for his answer. Whips and chains were his favorites, but only on the battlefield.

* * *

Hiro continued to ponder over Ryoko's question as Kisa flipped through the photo ablum. "Oh, you looked so cute, Ryoko-chan!" Ryoko pretended to look offended and said, "Oh, and I'm not cute now?" 

"Well, not really."

"Oh, ouch."

"I'm kidding."

"I hope you are."

Kisa nodded. "Yes, maybe there's a disease going around making people say things they don't mean!"

"I've got it!" Hiro exclaimed suddenly.

"Aw, poor Hiro-kun, he's diseased," Ryoko said, patting his head. Hiro glared at her.

"Maybe if you weren't so stupid, you'd know I'm talking about your problem." He smirked as she turned chibi with claws and red eyes as Kisa held her back. "From what you said, either your mother met your father sooner than she said and was just ashamed she was pregnant in highschool, or your father is not your sisters father."

Ryoko flipped the album to a picture of their family at the park. Ryoko was three, Lenne was six. There mother had been gone for two years, and there father had not yet sunk into the depths of despair. Lenne hated him even back then. Looking at the photo, they looked almost like twins. They still did.

"The thing is, no one in the history of our mom's or dad's family has purple or grey eyes."

* * *

"Hey there, kid!" Lenne swept Ryoko into a hug. She was here to pick her up to take her to Artemis's. "Go get your stuff, you know what a slave driver Artemis is. But you can take your time to say goodbye." She smiled as her sister ran off with Kisa, as Ryoko's new 'friend' Hiro trailed behind them. 

"I hope she wasn't a problem," Lenne told Tohru.

"Oh, no problem at all! Kisa was already staying here, and one more kid wouldn't make much difference. They're both so quiet." Lenne started snickering.

"That's a laugh. Ryoko, quiet?" She busted out laughing. "My sister, for being so small, has a big set of lungs, which she puts to use."

"We could say the same thing of you," Kyo teased, yanking one of her braids.

"I'm not short! Excuse me for not being a sasquatch."

"What did you call me, you damn brat!"

"You heard me, sasquatch. Or, can't youhear me up there? Maybe I should just knock you down!"

Haru walked in to see them glaring at each other, before Tohru started panicking. "Please don't fight!" she said frantically, waving the spoon that she was holding as she waved her hands in a warding gesture.

Lenne stared at her curiously. "Why do you have a spoon?" Tohru blinked, and stared down at the item in question.

"Oh, I guess I forgot I was still holding it!" She walked to the kitchen saying, "I'll be right back."

Lenne turned around. "Haru-kun!" she said with a smile. "Nice to see you again. It's been a while."

"Nice to see you too, Lenne-chan. Have you been busy?"

"Just a training trip my sadistic master decided I needed to go on. It was fun, though, I got a pen pal! She's an awesome fighter."

Kyo looked up. "Since when were you a martial artist?"

"Oh, I'm not really. I'm mostly a street fighter, but my master decided I need to broaden my horizens. Geez, Orangey-kun, I thought you were just a stupid street fighter."

"Don't call me Orangey!"

"Well," Haru said quietly. "You're right about the stupid part." They laughed as Kyo continued steaming.

"Lenne, I got my stuff!" Ryoko was watching them with a sly smirk, like she knew something.

"Bye, Ryoko-chan!" Tohru cried, flying out of the kitchen to hug her. "It was so nice getting to know you!"

"See ya later guys! Happy New Years." Lenne smiled at Haru before she dragged Ryoko away.

They walked in silence. "So," Ryoko said at last. "You like Hatsuharu-san?"

"Of course I do! He's my friend. It seems weird to be friends with someone if you don't like them, or at least share a mutual respect."

"No, I mean liiiiiike." Ryoko put extra emphasis on 'like'.

"Yeeeeeeah," Lenne said, giving her sister a strange look.

Ryoko made a noise of disgust. "You're just impossible."

"Took you long enough." She laughed as Ryoko tried to kick her. "We stayed in Nerima the whole time. I made a new friend, Ranma." Lenne glared as Ryoko smirked. "Friend, Ryoko, friend. Besides, he's a full-time she now. I still can't get used to that. It took a while, and some fights, but I helped helped her get her life in relative order. It's up to her now. But her father was the hardest. He has all these notions about what females can and can't do." She snickered, obviously recalling some memories. "After he cooled off quite a few time, he was willing to listen." She unlocked there apartment and flicked the light on.

Ryoko decided it was best for her sanity if she didn't ask questions. She just went to gather some extra clothes.

"Kisa, Hiro and I discovered something interesting," she said casually, stuffing a sweater in her bag.

"Oh?"

"Turns out our father isn't your father. Our mother most likely commited adultery, and if that's the case, I'm not our fathers child either." She walked out of the bedroom after untangling herself from something that tried to eat her, and saw Lenne leaning against the kitchen counter, pale-faced and blank-eyed. She poked her sister's stomach to see if she was still warm.

"Oh" was the only sound Lenne made.

* * *

_Well, I'm pissed. I had this chapter all written out, and worked hard on it, but my computer doesn't want me to be happy. When I saved it, it messed up and cut everything off from when Lenne's talking about going back to Nerima. _**-twitch- **_I'm sorta okay now, since I added some stuff I wouldn't of thought of anyways, but still. I'm gonna destroy this computer, laugh maniacally, and get a new one._

**_Matron Raenee: The magic green fairy has been haunting me for days, telling me to drink absinthe. I'm wondering if I accidently drank some before I read your review, because it oddly makes sense to me._**

**_phantomess13: I haven't seen a lot of Monty Python. Jus' a little. But I'm looking for the DVD's, and I'm going to rent one. Yay! _We are now the Knights who say... "Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-PTANG! Zoom-Boing! Z'nourrwringmm!"**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, or Fruits Basket, or Monty Python. But if I only had a brain... I would lament my loss with bigger words.**


	8. Chicken Feathers

"I'm bo-ored," Lenne whined, rolling over to face Artemis. The goddess sighed in exasperation. Lenne had been saying that for the past hour. Over and over and over. And over. And over. 

"Hephastus does his best work when he's not rushed," Artemis reminded the shorter girl, watching her roll around the garden. "Lenne, if you're not careful, you'll--" Too late. She giggled as Lenne amerged from the pond, hair dripping.

Rather than look annoyed, the girl looked cheerful. "I'm not bored anymore!" She jumped out of the water, causing a miniature tidal wave somewhere on the coast of one of Hawaii's islands, and shook herself like a dog.

**some island, Hawaii**

"Tidal wave!" Natives ran around in panic, causing themselves more physical harm then if they'd acted in an orderly fashion. A family from Wisconsin smiled at this seemingly unneccesary display, and faced the wave of water.

"How lovely." They snapped pictures as the wave decimated half the town. As they were washed away by a second wave of water, one of the children remarked, "And you said there weren't any water park rides!"

**Artemis' garden, Olympus**

"Well, I suppose that's good then," Artemis muttered while drying herself, oblivious to the panic caused on Earth. She absolutely did not like to get wet, unless for a very good reason, and would ignore everything else.

Lenne was racing around the garden, arms outstretched, yelling "I'm a hummingbird, fear my probiscus!", when Hephastus appeared, carrying a large something under a blanket. He unfortunately appeared right in Lenne's path, and was soon hit with by a 4'9" mass of human flesh which seemed to have no apparent brain.

"An' watch out for the butterflies," the small girl with swirly eyes muttered.

"I hope I'm not interupting anything?"

"You saved me," Artemis said, smiling. "Go ahead and set that down there," she told him, indicating a patch of ground "and thanks for your hard work. I'll talk to Father about a vacation."

Hephastus bowed. "Thank you, Artemis," he said, before disappearing back to his forge.

"Oh? What's this?" Lenne sat up with a smirk on her face. "Do you possibly have _feelings_ towards Hephastus? Lovey dovey, kissy wissy!"

"Do you possibly want to die?" Artemis growled.

"Well, now that you mention it, I've always felt a little suicidal. Like jumping into big herds of demons and trying to take them all on instead of dividing them. But you know it's more fun my way."

"Shut up. Just, please, shut up."

"Well, since you said please."

Artemis sighed before placing a hand on the sheet covering Hephastus' project. "Presenting my latest training idea. Combining scientific reasoning with mechanical and spiritual forces, it's the perfect opponent." Lenne hearing all of this, was extremely excited, and couldn't wait to try it out. When Artemis whipped the sheet off with a flourish, it was rather anti-climatic.

"A punching bag?" She asked, sweatdropping. "I'm sorry to inform you, well not really, but that's already been invented."

"Not just any punching bag!" Artemis smirked. "Go on, punch it as hard as you can. You can even use your spirit energy."

"It's just going to break," Lenne muttered, but settled into a favored stance. She blocked out the background noises, and focused her attention solely on the bag. It was stupid, really, just a dingy bag filled with something. Sawdust, most likely. It looked like it was barely holding up.

She narrowed her eyes as she saw a flicker of something. _'What the...?'_ Concentrating harder, she could dimly see spirit energy surrounding the bag, like an aura. _'There's something suspicious about this.'_ Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Artemis, looking expectant. _'So, somethings going to happen if I hit this, eh?'_

She stayed still for a moment longer before darting forward suddenly. She pivoted on the ball of her heel to position herself in front of the punching bag with Artemis behind her, and pounded the soft material.

The reaction was almost instantaneous. It flashed slightly, and Lenne found herself flying backwards. But luckily for her, Artemis was there to make her landing softer. "Well," Lenne said cheerfully, craning her neck to look at the older woman, "now I know what it does. It's not just a useless piece of scrap!"

Artemis growled something incomprehensible and shoved Lenne off of her. She stood up and dusted her back off. "You did that on purpose."

"Well duh." Lenne grinned as Artemis glared. "So, what was that about sciencey stuff?"

Artemis straightened her tunic. "According to Newton's third law of motion, when one object exerts force on a second, the second exerts a force on the first equal and opposite in direction." She glared, noticing a grass stain on her perfectly tailored tunic. "So you may have found out. But you would of known this if you payed attention in your classes."

"Tch. Arrogant goddess, so proud of yourself, aren't you? Besides, I'll pay attention if I think it's important."

"Hell yeah I'm proud of myself. And you should pay attention no matter what. What are you going to do after school?"

Lenne looked at her blankly. "But school hasn't resumed yet. How can I do something after if I'm not already there to let it have a beginning?"

"I'm talking about-- oh never mind! We're doing this to strenghten your defenses and speed. Simultaneously, as your strength increases, so will your defense. Just be glad I didn't animate it to move around." She looked thoughtful. "On second thought..."

"Oh look, it's your brother!" Lenne pointed behind her mentor.

"Oh, that's not going to--" Two hands closed around her mouth, and a familiar voice said, "Artemis, you really are evil, subjecting the poor girl to that." She wriggled out of the soft hold and glared at her brother.

"It's training, dear brother. Demons won't wait for her to get stronger before attacking her. Why are you here anyway?"

"To watch dear Lenne-chan, of course. But I was sort of hoping her training gear would be less concealing..." He cast a dissapointed glance at her baggy sweats and pullover hoodie jacket. "As a doctor, it's my professional opinion you shouldn't wear so much clothing." He smiled with barely concealed pervertedness. "You don't want to get too overheated."

"Gee, thanks doc. I think I'll take my chances. What are you really doing here?"

Apollo looked hurt. "You wound me, Lenne-chan! Here I am, worrying about your physical health, and you're practically out-right accusing me of having alternative motives."

"Yeah, I'm sure something physical is on your mind," Artemis and Lenne mumbled.

Apollo laughed nervously. "I assure you, my intentions are pure. Hephastus informed me of the extent of your new training devices abilities, and I saw fit to act as doctor." He smiled sincerely. "So you may go on with your training, regardless of injuries. It's better than having to call me whenever something is wrong." He sat down on a rock. "If it is such a problem, I will not watch you train. I feel rather like reminiscing today." Lenne looked at him dubiously, but walked away.

"Of course, I cannot help myself if my eyes accidently stray..." A rock connected with his head. "Oh Lenne-chan, your doubt, words, and rock throwing wounds me!"

"It's supposed to!"

Artemis settled herself near her brother. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Just remembering past assistants." He smiled. "They all had fiery tempers, even the deceptively shy ones."

"You wouldn't really expect a baker to be very powerful, would you?" She smiled, remembering Osono. She could hurl knives and cooking pans, and cooked a mean chocolate cake.

"Lenne's like that too," Apollo mused. "They could almost be related, if it wasn't for the circumstances."

"It's possible. She could be one of their descendants, and that could be why she has so much energy." Artemis' eyes narrowed, and she leaned her head onto her fist. "More than normal humans."

Apollo watched Lenne fly by. "Humans sometimes do have abnormal amounts; it's rare."

"Yes, but still, she was chosen. There are others who do have more energy than her, though at the rate she's been going, she'll soon eclipse them. But why weren't they chosen instead?" She looked suspiciously at her brother. "You haven't...?"

"No!" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, not that I can remember. But I'm sure I haven't? Right? Ooh, sake strikes again. Note to you, never mix nectar with alcohol."

Artemis sighed and rubbed her forhead, a smile forming on her lips as she saw Lenne flying backwards again. She seemed to have got the hang of it, and seemed to be enjoying it, if not wincing everytime a blow hit directly. Currently, she was flapping her arms and acting like a bird. "I'm flying!" She crashed into a wall. "I seem to have made an unscheduled landing!"

"Pay attention to where you're going, Lenne-chan! I don't want you destroying my garden."

"It's nice to see where your priorities lie!"

* * *

At a table outside of a quaint cafe, a group of young people gathered around a plate of chocolates they combined their money to buy. Theeir seating arrangement was designed to hide a boy with amethyst eyes from his rabid fanclub. 

"I'm bored," another girl whined. Doesn't that seem to be the most common thing to say these days? "There isn't anything to do. I wish Yuki's fanclub would find us."

"You always could do your homework," Hana pointed out quietly, eyeing one of the chocolates. She had a sweet tooth, and was vicious if anyone got in her way. Kyo and Yuki visibly shuddered, inching away from the plate.

Arisa burst into hysterical laughter. "That's a good one, Hana! Me, do homework?" She went off in another laughing fit. "I don't even do regularly assigned homework; I'd never do anything assigned over vacation." She wiped a tear from her eye. "You really crack me up."

"Well, there's not that much to do besides that, and New Years celebrations," Yuki pointed out.

"But watching other people can be exciting!" Tohru exclaimed, standing up in her excitement. Her skirt ruffled slightly with the wind and caught the attention of several boys. A cold glare from Kyo and Yuki convinced them they saw nothing of interest.

"Momiji especially has had particularly interesting waves as of late." Hana picked up a candy. A wonderful, cream-filled square of dark chocolate.

"He's had the whole main house up in an uproar," Haru remarked quietly. "He hasn't sat still for days."

"He misses Lenne-chan. They always hang out together, but she has that training trip."

"I wonder what Momiji-kun's relationship with Lenne-chan really is," Arisa said, sneaking a small bar from the plate.

"Friends," Haru said shortly. Arisa looked at him with a look in her eye.

"You're rather quick to say that."

"I also happen to be friends with them. It would be obvious if they had feelings for each other."

"I know, I know. She announces practically everything she does." Arisa snickered. Sometimes Lenne would stand up in the middle of lunch and announce a random idea she had, then sit down like nothing happened.

"She's more of a reserved person than we know," Hana said quietly. "Her waves sometimes radiate feelings of solidity, nervousness, and somberness, even when she is smiling." She looked up to see Haru and Arisa still in their argument, and Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki chatting aimlessly. She sighed. They'd never know any secret feelings of anyone if they never listened. She supposed it was better this way; Tohru was overly concerned about anyone feeling less than mildly joyful.

"I think you do!" Arisa's exclamation brought her attention back to the present world.

"She's my friend, nothing more."

"You've been watching her a lot lately."

"A lot of people watch her."

"You're acting protective of her! Tell me that is not boyfriend mannerisms."

"It's not. It's protective friend mannerisms. If you haven't noticed, males seem to mistake her child-like behavior for susceptibility to anything." He was looking openly annoyed now.

"Whatever you say. But maybe you like her and she doesn't know--"

Haru stood up suddenly and slammed his fists on the table. He was looking more like Black Haru. "I don't like her like that, she doesn't like me like that, drop it," he snarled before stalking off.

Everyone stared at Haru's retreating back in shock. "He sounded like he was trying to convince himself," Hanajima murmured. No one seemed to hear her.

"What's got him all twisted outta shape?" Kyo shrugged and tried to sneak a candy off the plate. Hana grabbed his wrist in a steel grip.

"None for an unobservant boy."

* * *

Lenne dragged herself across the floor of her room, joints creaking with every move. Damn scientific reasoning, damn punching bag, and above all, damn Artemis to Hades' realm! 

"'You need to study' she says," Lenne growled. The desk was so close, yet so far away. Why couldn't she have a smaller room.

She paused when she saw Ryoko sprawled across her futon. She quieted her muttering so she wouldn't wake her sister.

"Oh joy, reading." Lenne looked at the scrolls Artemis left out for her. They were deceptively small. But she knew, from previous experiance, it would take all night to suffer through at least one of the smaller ones.

Makai History, way too long; Rulers of the Makai, might be interesting; _Reikai History_, yea-no; The Seperating of the Three Worlds, too many conflicts, way too long; Possesion of a Different Kind: Animal Spirits, hello hello, whatever we have here? Lenne opened the scroll, and scanned the contents, before something caught her eye.

_'It's a much-debated subject that has arisen many times before. Many believe this outburst of the seemingly unrelated 'curse of the zodiac' that has befallen a family for generations is actually demonic heritage making itself prominent in a few members._

_'While in demonic bloodlines of animal species the offspring are of the same bestial species as the parent or parent,'_ Parent, as in singular? Something she read earlier came back to the surface of her mind. 'Oh_ yeah, some demons are asexual.'_

_'...parent or parents, in this specific family, it seems multiple animals can be found. Examples would be the animals from the Chinese zodiac, hence this strange phenomenon being referred to as 'the curse of the zodiac'. The fabled cat is also present._

_'The members of this so-called curse have their own abilities, the extent of which has not yet been discovered. Some traits that all seem to have is higher reflexes, agility, and increased battle prowess. (Some have been reported to have immense strength, used in times of great rage.) While this is the generalization, it is also been known for some few not to have one or any of the aforementioned abilities. They all, however, seem to be more attractive than the average human, and some were said to be comparible with Lord Sesshoumaru, King of the Makai, and Youko Kurama, King of Thieves.'_ If Sesshoumaru ever saw this, heads would roll. Lenne briefly entertained a bloody scene in her head.

_'"You dare compare this Sesshoumaru to a lowly human?" he would sneer, lip curled delicately. The underlying fierceness would be conveyed through his eyes. The writer would stutter something about the possibility they weren't human, but Sesshy would cut him off by slicing him with his poison nail whip thingy. Then he would cackle madly and dance around while sprinkling chicken feathers around, and then he'd call Jaken and Rin. Together, he and his adopted daughter would put the little toad in make-up and a kimono and take pictures of him with the corpse and sell them--'_ She shook herself from that mental situation. Ayame and Sesshoumaru looked alike, enough said. She turned back to the scroll.

_'Of course, this being the case, this could also simply be a curse that inhabited the family long ago. The supporting facts would be the different species that are supposed to inhabit the human vessels. (The 'curse' was supposed to be thought in starting when the family was under an illness, and the spirit possesion saved them from, but scarred them as well). The way it seems to mar them, as they transform only under certain conditions also bolster the theory. Opponents argue this could simply be a 'fail-safe' mechanism the body developed, in the case that the members were unable to access their demonic form. As it does not seem all family members are aware of this supposed demonic heritage, it is possible that over time all strains of mention of anything to do with the demonic abilities were quieted, outside of the family and in._

_'It seems the 'outside family', or those who know nothing of the 'curse', is kept ignorant, and memories are obliterated if they discover anything. The whole family has been shrouded in mystery, and they seem to want to keep it that way. It is true that any display of demonic abilities would scare humans, and they'd be forced to endure what demons from earlier time periods did.'_

Lenne sighed. Cries of 'Burn the monster!' would undoubtedly interrupt their schooling.

* * *

"And here I was going 'Ah, it's good to be back!' earlier today!" Lenne complained, walking with Momiji, Haru, Tohru, and the older Sohma's. "Never again! Higurashi-sensei seems to think homework is the cure to everything." Momiji laughed. 

"You should see your face! You look like Kyo." Lenne stared over at the older boy before pulling him forward.

"Hey, what're you...!"

"Quiet, Orangey-kun." She stared at him, then pulled out a mirror and stared at her reflection. "I don't look like you at all!"

"Stupid brat," Kyo muttered darkly, taking his place near the back of the group.

"So, Lenne-chan, you don't like school much?" Tohru questioned.

"Nah, it's okay. I just don't like homework." She shuddered. "It's like an infinite evil that just confines you and presses you from all sides."

Tohru giggled. From behind them there was a wailing noise. "What was that?" It became louder.

From down the street, they could see a cloud of dust. As it came closer, Kyo tensed. "Shimatta."

The wail became identifiable syllables. "Kyooooooo-kuuuuuuuuuun!" A green blur pounced on the red-head. "I haven't seen you in so long! Why haven't you come to the main house? I tried at Shigure-san's, but I couldn't find you!" Her look changed from worry to rage. "WHERE WERE YOU!" She started her customary hello beating.

Lenne stared at them. Something from the possesion scroll she read came to mind. _'Some have been reported to have immense strength, sometimes used in times of great rage.'_ But Kyo didn't transform. So he was a non-zodiac?

The girl suddenly stopped, and hugged the bruised and beaten boy. Lenne saw her eyes flicker in the direction of... 'Ah, so that's her game!' She lamented over the boy. "Oh, I'm so so so so sorry, Kyo-kun! I just got so caught up in the moment, and I missed you so much, and... and..." The girl looked over at Lenne, her eyes flashing. "Who are you?"

"Aoyama Lenne, comedy extrodinaire! If you need a laugh, I'm your man! Wait, no! I be female! Female I tell you!" She twitched. "Now people are going to think I'm a cross-dresser. I heard someone dare to call me flat-chested." She chuckled menacingly. "Oh, they got what's coming to them. They used to think winged lemurs didn't exist. I proved them wrong." She straightened up and acted as if she didn't just say crazy things.

Kagura stared at Lenne. "So you're not trying to steal my Kyo-kun away?" Lenne put an innocent smile on.

"I could never do something like that. One, I annoy him. Two, I don't want him. Three, it's obvious he has someone else. Four, there is no four. I don't like that number." She sighed. "Now that that's over, you want to get an ice cream cone?"

Kagura's eyes lit up. "I'd love one!" They walked away chatting happily. By the time they were halfway down the street, they had nicknames for each other.

"What just happened?" Yuki asked. Everyone shrugged as Kyo, still on the ground, twitched pitifully.

* * *

While our favorite zodiac members were innocently eating ice cream, something totally not innocent was happening in Nerima. 

In an alley near Kolkoz High School, a twinkling light was floating in mid-air. It continued writhing and wriggling, growing bigger every couple of minutes, until it was about three square feet. Black liquid started oozing out slowly, forming a shifting black ball. As it rolled towards a nearby trashcan, a schlorping noise could be heard.

A nearby cat was startled from its eating binge, and stared curiously at the blob. She moved closer until her nose was almost touching it. It didn't move. The cat turned its back on the blob, and started padding away. Several dark tendrals wrapped around its torso and legs. Before it could yowl, the blob absorbed the feline into its body.

When it was through processing, it not only looked and smelled like a cat, but could act and sound feline as well. It gave itself one final lookover before exiting the alley. Master had said the Bi-Colored one's energy traces were found here, the pseudo cat would just have to look.

It found itself curiously smashed by a large flat object (it's newly aquired knowledge said it was a cooking utensil - a spatula), almost cut in half by a spotted object (a bandana?), run over by a two wheeled contraption controlled by a purple-haired female, chased by a large panda when it tried to eat some fish, run over by a mailbox with legs chasing after a male with a spatula on his back, almost eaten by a scaly reptile with a metal collar reading 'Mr. Turtle', and run over by a small toady man spouting something about 'silky darlings' being chased by a horde of young females screaming "Pervert!" and "Someone catch that thief!".

Worn out, it dragged itself towards a young female who was holding food and talking to it. In its short time, it learned all females loved cats, even the crazy ones. It mewed and batted at her ankles. She looked down.

"Oh, look at the cute widdle kitty!" The pseudo cat found itself in a bone crushing grip. "Come on, Nini, widdle Azusa is take you home, and Azusa will clean you up!" She skipped down the street, spouting some nonsense, using the word 'widdle' alot. The silly female spotted a crow.

"Ooh, it's so cute!" she squealed, running after it. Her grip on the pseudo cat loosened, and it managed to wriggle free. "Don't fly away from me, widdle Monty!" SHe turned around and saw the pseudo cat running away. "Come back, Nini! Don't be naughty widdle kitty!"

The pseudo cat was breathing hard by the time it finally lost the scary female. It was in a yard, and two females were sparring against each other, a brunnette and red-head. It briefly considered running away from them too. They looked strong, and if they were anything like the previous female, might snap the false feline in half.

Cautiously, when the two stopped sparring, it approached the red-head. The short haired brunnette looked scary. It batted against the female's leg. She looked down, and her eyes widened in fear. She screamed and ran away, arms flailing wildly. The frantic female's foot caught the cat where its ribs would be, and sent it flying away.

_'Analysis: Bi-Colored Female is nowhere to be found.'_ Rather gratefully it added,_ ' Starting search somewhere else.'_

-----

**A/N's:**

**- Artemis, being the goddess of the moon, actually does have control over some water i.e. the tide is affected by the moon. The pondis used to cause them. Being agoddess isn't easy, ya know.**

**- I actually paid attention in science. I knew it would be handy.**

**- Besides energy waves, Hanajima can detect emotions.**

**- My own little take on how the curse started, and what it could be.**

**- I just had to put Azusa in there.**

**_Matron Raenee: My only reviewer! You didn't sound to convinced about that 'nice chapter' comment, though. I'm so hurt. I kid, I kid. I be mortally wounded. -writhes in pain-_**


	9. I have to WHAT!

Smirking, the short girl darted stealthily from bush to bush, watching her unsuspecting teacher. The underbrush was well taken care of, and the grass long and soft, so she was virtually undetectable. Except for her spirit energy, anyway, and she had had the fore-sight to mask that before she came. Oh, Artemis would come to regret her decisions. The first one, having a forest. The second, thinking the girl would fail. 

She leaped at Artemis, doing a back-flip and planting her feet firmly on the older woman's back. She serenely watched Artemis fly forward, into the river, and sat down on the unoccupied stump. "Enjoy yourself, Artemis?"

Dripping wet, Artemis stood waist-deep in the river, glaring at Lenne from underneath the hair plastered to her forehead. "This wasn't part of the test."

"No, but using my wonderful sense of humor and lack of brains, I decided you needed to cool of after yelling at your charming twin for an hour this morning, even though this will undoubtedly end in me being miserable in some way." Lenne smiled brightly. "So, why don't we head back to the temple before you have a chance to complete my prediction. It would be terribly awful if something was to happen to me, your lovely and charming assistant."

"I only yelled at him for his pervertedness. He was spying on you changing this morning." Lenne was frozen in shock, crouched precariously on the stump. A perfect unbalanced target.

Artemis giggled as she pushed Lenne into a shallower part the river. Her assistant shrieked and started cursing vulgarly. Shocked, Artemis stood still as Lenne, snarling and mumbling, started stomping towards the temple. "Lenne, I didn't know you would take it that badly, I didn't know it would make you up--"

"I could hardly care about that! Apollo was peaking at me! I'm going to murder that peeping tom!"

"Lenne-chan, you can't kill a deity."

"I'll find a way. Oh, trust me, I'll find a way." Chuckling, Lenne continued on her darkly merry way. Artemis did not doubt that a fifteen year old girl could find a way to murder an ancient god. After a while, Lenne stopped surprising you, and only amused and mildly shocked you with her random antics.

After telling Apollo off for a couple hours, combined with some very hard blows to the face, torso, and manhood of a certain sun god, Lenne was whistling cheerfully as she finished changing clothes. She looked over at her little sister. "Bored, imouto-chan? You could always pester Apollo or Hades."

"I don't really feel like it," Ryoko said sullenly. "After a while, the novelty of a living person travelling through Hell wears off."

Smiling, Lenne tossed Ryoko her wallet. "I have some extra yen if you want to go to Tokyo for a while. I think Kisa might be happy to see you, and Hiro in his own bratty little way. I heard there's a new Mogeta movie in theaters."

Ryoko hugged her sister tightly, squealing "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Ittekimasu!", before darting off.

"Itterasshai. Ki o tsukete!" Lenne shouted before Ryoko was surrounded by the customary white light that signified travelling.

"Oh? A good deed Lenne has done?" Artemis sauntered over, smiling casually. "Do mine eyes deceive me? You, giving away your joyfully, but hard, earned cash?"

"I'm not the penny-pincher you make me out to be." Artemis snorted. "Well, only slightly. Besides, Ryoko was bored, and staying here wouldn't do her any good."

"You had a controlled amount in there, didn't you?"

"You know me and how tightly I keep the purse drawstrings."

"Of course. Scrooge."

Lenne stuck her tongue out at the older woman. "What did you call me here for anyway? It's my day off! No work, no school, I could be doing my homework!"

Artemis giggled. "You? Doing homework?"

"I said could. It's not on my 'most likely to do when I'm bored' list."

"You are here for a mission briefing, of course. Although, now that I think about it, it would be better for my health if I contacted you on the mini-computer."

"Spoj."

"Your little habit of naming things does not concern me," Artemis said, with a mock haughty look. Lenne bowed, one hand making elaborate gestures.

"Of course, your ladyship. How silly of me to ever forget my place and dare to think I, a mere peon, would concern you. Please forgive me, or I shall be forced to toss myself from Olympus in shame to remedy the situation."

"Make sure it doesn't happen again, or you shall be committing suicide in shame." Artemis sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. "Mission, mission, right. I would normally let something like this go to Koenma's Tantei for this, but it needs a woman's touch. There's a class B demon parading around Japan, stealing the souls of young women."

"Oh, just what we need," Lenne muttered. "Another pervert."

"He's been accomplishing this by disguising himself as a judge in local pageants."

"I knew it! Pervert! He's a pervert!"

Artemis glared. "Lenne! Can you ignore that little self-discovered detail for a while?"

"If I'm involved in this mission, no." Lenne smiled as Artemis slapped her forehead. Looking up slowly from her hand, which she had been muttering to, Artemis smirked.

"Why yes, you'll be very, very, involved in this mission." Lenne looked at her blankly. "I'll need you to go undercover." Comprehension dawned, and Lenne had a look of horror.

"No. No way. Absolutely not. No way, never ever, there is absolutely, positively, no way--"

------

"--that I'm doing this alone!" Lenne wailed, clutching her friends waist in a tight grip. Ranma continued down the street, groceries in hand, seemingly unperturbed by the added weight on her right side.

"No way, Lenne-chan. You really expect me to go in this with you?"

"But whyyyyy! I can't do this alone! You can't expect me to win a pageaaaaaaant!" Ranma turned into the Tendo Dojo and smiled at Kasumi as she opened the door.

"Welcome back, Ranma-chan. Good afternoon, Lenne-chan."

"Hello, Kasumi-san," both responded in unison, taking off their shoes. Lenne had a mildly difficult time, clutching Ranma's waist the whole time, but succeeded before Ranma dragged her through the house to the back, both greeting the various house-mates as they went.

"Because. Even though you're my friend-- hey Nabiki-san-- I can't do it. I've been through a lot before I became a full-time girl,-- Pops, Tendo-san-- and this hits a little too close to that. I don't want to go through people ogling me like some sort of freak! Hey, Akane-chan." Lenne finally let go as Ranma dragged her outside.

"I don't wanna go through guys ogling me either, but I have to. I'm asking this small favor, from one friend to another. I probably have no chance whatsoever of getting any of the five winning spots. I would ask Momiji-chan, but I can't ask him to dress in drag." Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I can't ask him to dress in a more noticeable drag outfit. Besides, the school's auditorium is being used for the pageant, and students will most likely be there. They're already used to the fact he wears a girls uniform, but this would be too much. It would cause questions to arise. Very strange and awkward questions."

Both girls imagined a Momiji in a dress, make-up, jewelry, and high-heels strutting around and winking at guys. Both suppressed a shudder. "The scary thing is, he'd make a passable female."

"Pleeeeeeease! I really need you!" Lenne's voice had gone up in pitch and her eyes were starting to water. Ranma hated to see Lenne like this; she hated when people cried. Normally, she would try and help her friend, but entering in a pageant? Out of the question.

Sniffling, Lenne could see Ranma stiffen her resolve. Sighing, she bowed. "I, Aoyama Lenne, request a favor from you, Saotome Ranma, in the form of your assistance for the pageant. I will make sure no word of your participation reaches Nabiki-san or other residents of Nerima, destroying your honor, and no one in Tokyo will know of your past problems. My honor as an assistant of the goddess of the moon and hunt, Artemis, is on the line," Lenne recited formally, the words rolling off of her tongue. Artemis decided she needed to know formalities in case she ever offended a deity. She had cursed the goddess when she first found out, but was now thanking her.

Ranma's resolve was fast crumbling. Honor was very important to her, and Lenne had told her about Hera... No one would know she was born a guy, and they wouldn't stare at her like she was a carnival freak. She bowed. "I accept your request."

Squealing, Lenne jumped up and glomped her friend. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are my savior, the greatest, woman among people! I bow before you! Angels sing your praises!"

"Alright, enough! Laying it on a little thick, huh?"

"Well, I suppose it's to put you in a good mood when I ask you to go with me to convince another person." Lenne smiled cheerfully as Ranma fell on her face.

"You mean, you had someone else to ask, too!"

Lenne stared at her innocently. "But I have a better chance of cornering the demon if I have more people!"

Lenne was very lucky her friend was a forgiving person in some cases, or Artemis may of had to find a new assistant. Ranma, after punching her friend on the head, sighed. "Might as well, since I'm roped into this. Where to?"

"I'm not sure... Ah, don't kill me!"

Ranma did not, in fact, kill her stupid friend for her errors. She knelt down, blue eyes staring down at the shorter girl, and started giggling.

"Not the reaction I was expecting. Are you on something?"

"I'm going to get my revenge on you," Ranma stated, a chipper grin lighting her features. "Because you want me to do this with you, I want a favor in return."

"What kind of favor?" Lenne asked suspiciously.

Ranma stood up and linked her hands behind her head. She hummed a little song as she walked back to the dojo. "Ranma-chan? What favor? Come one? Please?" Lenne jumped around behind Ranma. "What is it? Huh, huh? Whatcha want me to do?"

Deciding she made Lenne wait long enough, Ranma grinned. "Sore wa himitsu desu!"

"What! You want a favor, and you're keeping it secret? Come on, Ranma, I'm not that stupid."

"Aw, c'mon, Lenne-chan! I want a favor, I just don't know what it'll be yet! Please? Just this one unknown favor that you have to do no matter what it is?"

"Okay, then!" Lenne walked off towards the train station, not noticing her friends disbelieving eyes watching her.

"Are we sure about that not stupid thing?"

After a half-hour on the train, Lenne twitching as she thought of her teachers reaction, the two teens were searching the whole neighborhood. Lenne was practically hopping on every person, screaming at them if they knew where Higurashi-san lived. Ranma tried to attract Lenne's attention to a sign, but currently the short girl was running around frantically.

"Oh no, you're gonna kill me if we don't find Higurashi-san, and then Artemis will kill me when I fail, then Hera will kill me because she doesn't like me!"

Ranma grabbed Lenne and forced her head to look at a sign attached to an apartment complex. "Look. Read. Shut up."

"Okay. It has a lot of names on it. Ranma-chan, we don't have time to question these people, we have to find Higurashi-san."

With a blank look on her face, Ranma pointed to 'Higurashi'. "She lives here."

Lenne grinned sheepishly. "That's different, then. Why didn't you say anything earlier? I could of been saved the trouble of chasing after that old woman."

"Yes, she's been complaining to me for the last half-hour," Kagome said dryly from beside them. Lenne jumped to the side in surprise and smacked into the wall.

"What are you doing here!"

"...I live here. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to ask your assistance in an important mission Artemis gave me that I already dragged my friend into," Lenne said, an oblivious smile on her face. She was still stuck to the wall, her hood on her zip-up stuck on a brick.

"Do I want to know?" Kagome asked Ranma with a small, exasperated sigh.

"No, you really don't. I would want you to suffer with me, but I say run while you have a chance."

Tired of hanging on the wall for so long, Lenne started waving her arms around insanely, trying to get off of the wall. "Higurashi-san! Please, do me this one favor! You can think of it as a favor to Artemis, if you want. Please?"

"You sound so sincere, and look so ridiculous, it's hard to refuse. But, I'm not going to accept this point blank. First, you're going to tell me what you want my help with. Although, if judging by the look on your friends face, this is going to be bad, and you might have to do something for me."

"Er, well, I was actually going to ask you to get me off of the wall." Kagome and Ranma shook there heads in exasperation, and walked inside the building. "Guys? You're going to come back, right? You're getting help? Hey, why are you going into that elevator? Ranma-chan, Higurashi-san? Come back here!"

After letting her suffer a while, Kagome and Ranma came back to rescue Lenne. After all, they couldn't leave her outside while it was getting late. People coming back from work might accidently speak to her.

Lenne looked around at Kagome's apartment. It was a small, cluttered place, with papers everywhere. "I thought you were organized."

"I am. My cat, however, is not. He gets antsy if I leave him alone for too long."

Lenne squealed as a fat grey cat waddled towards her, and hugged it tightly. "It's just the cutest little thing EVAH!"

Ranma clung to the rafters, fear on her face. "That is the creepiest little monster I've ever seen." Kagome watched Ranma inching towards the door as Lenne started talking to Buyo.

"Weren't you here for a reason?"

Clearing her throat, trying to appear professional, Lenne turned towards her teacher. "Um, yes, I am. Before I start, please don't kill me."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "A promising start."

A horrible hour and a half later, filled with things being thrown, loud screams, and begging for one's life, Lenne now owed Higurashi Kagome a favor. "What's it going to be? Me turning my homework in? Paying more attention in class?"

Smiling serenely, like she had not just been yelling in horror and rage, Kagome said, "You're going to do a make-up project, which will boost your grade to an 'A'. I'm so nice, aren't I? A ten page essay on every god who had a part in the forming of history would be sufficient, I think." She looked up to see Lenne standing slack-jawed, a blank look in her eyes. "Oh, alright. Just Zeus and his immediate family. If you could include a family tree of those members along with that, we'd be just peachy."

Lenne looked ready to cry. "Everyone wants something. Why?"

"Because we're human, and selfish." Lenne looked thoughtful, nodding slowly.

"So you finally admit it. Amazing. Here I thought you really were the spawn of Hades."

"Such a compliment." Kagome sighed, and put a hand to her temples. Her headache was coming back again. It would come and go periodically, but it was a pain. Literally.

"You okay?" Lenne asked, watching Kagome pop an aspirin.

"Mm. Fine." She laced her fingers together. "So, what about our clothing? I doubt you have anything pageant appropriate. Your dear friend doesn't strike me as one that would have a few, if any, dresses lying around. I don't dress up, unless dressing up means wearing priestess garb."

"You need to date more, Higurashi-san. How about a certain dark-haired doctor?" A sudden glare from Kagome made Lenne whirl around. "Oh, look! A convenient spot for me to stare at."

Kagome eyed her medicine bottle. Another aspirin or five wouldn't hurt right now. "Lenne, matter at hand," Ranma said, draping an arm around her friend. "Where are we going to find nice clothes in less than a day? What kind of person is Artemis, anyway, to give you something like this on such short term?" Lenne wasn't listening. Her face was lit up in one of those 'the candle has lit up and the wheels are turning' faces.

"To Ayame-sama's!" The red-head and the teacher gave Lenne a look as said girl ran out of the apartment, cackling like an escapee from the asylum, before following reluctantly.

A move they would regret for a very long time.

-----

**I'm sorry, everyone! School and some other stuff has been taking up my time. That, and my exceeding laziness to finish this chapter. Since FF has that 'no responding to the reviewer' rule, I'm not going to. I don't want my stuff deleted. So instead, thanks to all my reviewers, old and recent, and just pretend I say something retarded at this point. Better yet : The latin opera ladies speak to me. I don't understand what they're saying. I know they're latin because they told me so.** "Hi." "I don't speak English." "o.o How am I understanding you?" "You're not. I don't speak English, I speak Latin." "Kaybe den." "What?"


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